US officials recommend encrypted messaging to evade hackers in telecom networks

US officials are urging Americans to use encrypted apps for calls and texts to reduce the risk that private information reaches foreign adversaries still inside US telecommunications networks, according to NBC News. FBI and CISA officials spoke with reporters on the lasting effects of a hack tied to Chinese group Salt Typhoon, which affected AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and Lumen Technologies. Jeff Greene, executive assistant director for cybersecurity at CISA, said the scale of the hack was so great that agencies could not predict when a "full eviction" of malicious material would occur. He stated that encryption would make intercepted data impossible to use, and the article notes that Signal and WhatsApp offer end-to-end encryption.