export_ofoct.com

[00:00.70] U.S. cybersecurity officials are advising people to use encryption in their communications after a major hacking campaign.

[00:13.19] Federal officials released a list of security suggestions for U.S. telecommunications companies that were targeted.

[00:23.82] The advice includes one suggestion that everyone can use: “Ensure that traffic is end-to-end encrypted to the maximum extent possible.”

[00:37.37] End-to-end encryption, also known as E2EE, means that messages are protected so that only the sender and receiver can see them.

[00:52.24] If anyone else gets the message, all they will see is disordered information that cannot be understood without the key.

[01:03.66] Law enforcement officials had until now resisted encryption.

[01:09.51] This resistance is because the encryption means the technology companies themselves will not be able to look at the messages.

[01:21.45] In addition, the companies will not be able to respond to law enforcement requests to turn the data over.

[01:32.08] The Associated Press (AP) recently offered some ways that normal people can use for end-to-end encryption :

[01:43.77] Officials said the hackers targeted the metadata of a large number of people.

[01:51.47] That included information on the dates, times and recipients of calls and texts.

[02:00.51] The hackers also got to see the information from texts from a much smaller number of people.

[02:09.54] If you are an iPhone user, information in text messages that you send to someone else who also has an iPhone will be encrypted end-to-end.

[02:24.94] Look for the blue text bubbles which mean that the messages are encrypted iMessages.

[02:32.91] The same goes for Android users sending texts through Google Messages.

[02:40.35] There will be a lock next to the timestamp on each message to show that the encryption is on.

[02:49.91] But there is a weakness. When iPhone and Android users text each other, the messages are encrypted only using Rich Communication Services (RCS).

[03:05.59] That is a common method for messaging that has replaced the older SMS and MMS methods.

[03:16.21] Apple notes that RCS messages “aren’t end-to-end encrypted, which means they’re not protected from a third party reading them while they’re sent between devices.”