Cyber security risk for sending texts between iPhone and Android

[tahoebum]

The FBI is warning to not send texts from your iPhone to Android phones and vice versa. It’s a bit of pain to comply with this as a couple of my good buddies are Android users.

FBI warns texts between Android and iPhone users pose cyber risk

The FBI and a cybersecurity watchdog issued a warning that users of Android and iPhone devices face risks when texting users of the other operating system due to a cyber breach.

www.foxbusiness.com

 

[PatsFan]

Another great reason to ditch Apple!!

 

[Acesteve]

i scanned it and it appears just that our messags can be read because they are not encrypted. If we were govt officials, a bigger deal.

 

[MrsSlowMo]

I read an article about it earlier in the week and thought well, maybe they will like the sweet potato and black bean recipe I just sent my daughter. Then I wondered how fun it would be to troll them. What if we all collectively just started sending the most off the wall text messages to each other.

Joking aside, hopefully people will finally learn not to send credit card and banking information over text. It’s been a security issue for several years.

 

[ttucliffhanger]

So I should just not communicate with half my family via text bc they aren’t apple users. Sorry not happening.

 

[Tevenor]

Its a gap in the RCS protocol that's going to replace SMS fir cross platform text interaction. If its a big enough concern. There are plenty of end to end encrypted chat apps that can be used across platforms.

 

[MikeG]

This lands right in my wheel house for what I do day to day. We were briefed on this and it really only affects those businesses who interact at a high level, C -Suite, engineers and other core pieces of your organization. For this reason I keep a personal device and a professional device, rather than use my personal device on my corporate network.

For the day to day users like us, the exploit is spam and phishing attempts so I would advise to be more cautious about that then whose reading your daily meme text to your friends. If you are worried I would suggest Telegram or WhatsApp to encrypt comms and provide peace of mind.

 

[gonyr]

China is going to find out that Thursday is bowling night? Have to say I don't feel too concerned about this.

 

[Sean]

Approximately 23 billion text messages are sent daily. Besides, I can't imagine anyone being interested in any of my texts, lol.

 

[Canadan]

I'm happy to occupy these losers days with my text based nonsense if all they can do is read it lmao

 

[aljaklaw]

the latest in FB Mom Group Land

 

[Duffer Seamus]

Another great reason to ditch Apple!!

Or another great reason to ditch Android

If you are worried I would suggest Telegram or WhatsApp to encrypt comms and provide peace of mind.

Signal Private Messenger is far superior to either of those. It is the secure messaging platform most widely-recommended by network security professionals and privacy advocates.

WhatsApp, in particular, is owned by Meta, the owner of FaceBook. Meta's record wrt privacy and security is... not great.

Approximately 23 billion text messages are sent daily.

With the sheer amount of processing power and advanced algorithms available today that's a non-issue.

Besides, I can't imagine anyone being interested in any of my texts, lol.

Today. Right now. That may change someday. The time to address such problems is before they need to be addressed, not after. Particularly when it's so trivially-easy to do.

the latest in FB Mom Group Land

Incorrect.

 

[BigMac]

While I wouldn't object to everything becoming E2EE and I think it's a good idea from a general infosec standpoint, I'm not too worried about China seeing what our tee times are next week or the memes I send to friends.

I can see where it could be a potential issue for people in sensitive positions/occupations, political activists, dope dealers and pimps, though.

Another great reason to ditch Apple!!

A better reason to ditch Android. iMessages (between iDevices) are already E2EE, and the malware threats to Android devices are orders of magnitude greater than iOS. Unfortunately, that will change soon though, thanks to the EU mandating that Apple allow sideloading. That alone hugely increases the threat profile to iOS.

 

[MikeG]

Or another great reason to ditch Android


Signal Private Messenger is far superior to either of those. It is the secure messaging platform most widely-recommended by network security professionals and privacy advocates.

WhatsApp, in particular, is owned by Meta, the owner of FaceBook. Meta's record wrt privacy and security is... not great.


With the sheer amount of processing power and advanced algorithms available today that's a non-issue.


Today. Right now. That may change someday. The time to address such problems is before they need to be addressed, not after. Particularly when it's so trivially-easy to do.


Incorrect.

Forgot about Signal, it’s the best imo, but let’s face it Meta owns 99-% of user data anyway lol

 

[Yukari]

Or another great reason to ditch Android


Signal Private Messenger is far superior to either of those. It is the secure messaging platform most widely-recommended by network security professionals and privacy advocates.

WhatsApp, in particular, is owned by Meta, the owner of FaceBook. Meta's record wrt privacy and security is... not great.


With the sheer amount of processing power and advanced algorithms available today that's a non-issue.


Today. Right now. That may change someday. The time to address such problems is before they need to be addressed, not after. Particularly when it's so trivially-easy to do.


Incorrect.

Signal is what I use the most. Unfortunately, not everyone I communicate with has Signal - bummer.

 

[camden_kid]

WhatsApp messages should be okay from reading that.

 

[BigMac]

WhatsApp messages should be okay from reading that.

WhatsApp is owned by Meta (Facebook). I trust them with info security about as far as I could pick them up and throw them.

 

[camden_kid]

WhatsApp is owned by Meta (Facebook). I trust them with info security about as far as I could pick them up and throw them.

So the messages aren't end-to-end encrypted and Meta can read all the messages?

 

[BigMac]

So the messages aren't end-to-end encrypted and Meta can read all the messages?

I honestly don't know the inner workings, but I just don't trust Meta. As @Duffer Seamus said above, Meta's track record wrt security and privacy is not great. Their business model is to siphon as much information as possible about users and sell it for advertising/marketing, and that doesn't mesh well with security/privacy.

 

[xThor]

This just proves what I’ve believed for years.

Green bubbles are a threat to personal and national security

 

[MikeG]

So the messages aren't end-to-end encrypted and Meta can read all the messages?

It would be illegal to read the messages as I understand it. Your personal information you use to sign up they have (like everyone else)

I would imagine they “can” access encrypted messages but would come after a lot of legal hoops are cleared

 

[BigMac]

This just proves what I’ve believed for years.

Green bubbles are a threat to personal and national security

See, here's the part of it I don't get - all the butthurt about green bubbles is from Google/Android's side. Apple has developed/implemented an inherently secure messaging protocol within their own products (iMessage), and it's a selling point for them. Why should they be forced to open that up to others and sacrifice that marketing leverage? They're not a non-profit, they're in business to make money, and their shareholders want them to make as much money as possible. I don't get punishing a business for building a good product. That's not "anti-competitive", that's just good business.

Apple's attitude is, if you want blue bubbles and built-in fully E2EE messaging, buy an iPhone. They resisted implementing RCS, and have refused to develop iMessage for other platforms, and that makes sense to me. Of course Google/Android doesn't like it, and that shouldn't be surprising to anyone because it potentially cuts into their sales. This is not unique to IT - in every industry, companies are always searching for the things that give them the competitive edge, that sells more of their products. If other companies can find a way to match or improve it, good on them - but that original company shouldn't be forced to give up all their R&D and resulting IP to everybody else just because their product is better than everyone else's and is making more money. If you hate green bubbles that much, the solution is simple; if you refuse to buy Apple products for whatever reason, you'll have to find workarounds and convince all your iDevice friends why they should have to juggle multiple messaging apps so you don't have to deal with green bubbles.

 

[camden_kid]

It would be illegal to read the messages as I understand it. Your personal information you sue to sign up they have (like everyone else)

I would imagine they “can” access encrypted messages but would come after a lot of legal hoops are cleared

I honestly would be shocked if they could technically read the messages. WhatsApp make such a point about the encryption. I'm not an expert on these things though so I'm not sure.

 

[MikeG]

I honestly would be shocked if they could technically read the messages. WhatsApp make such a point about the encryption. I'm not an expert on these things though so I'm not sure.

I will agree with you on that. It’s how they market their service so having a blatant flaw would be problematic. That doesn’t mean a back door doesn’t exist if needed for legal purposes

 

[echico]

I guess my wife can't send me a shopping list now. I will make that sacrifice