US Government officials urged to lock down devices amid telecoms breach

Image Credit: Geralt / Pixabay (Image credit: Geralt / Pixabay)

CISA has released an advisory for US government communications
Government officials are encouraged to lock down their devices
This follows the discovery foreign actors have breached US telecoms networks

CISA has urged ‘highly targeted’ individuals in the US Government or in senior political positions to immediately review and implement strict security measures with their mobile devices.

This comes after multiple major US telecoms firms were hit by security breaches earlier in 2024, most likely originating from state-sponsored Chinese hackers.

Recent reports also confirmed that the group behind the attack, Salt Typhoon, had not yet been fully eradicated, and still lurks inside US telecoms networks.

Lockdown mode

As part of its advisory, CISA also released a best practice guide for mobile communications, which includes instructions on using end-to-end encryption, password managers, Fast Identity Online (a phishing resistance authentication), and advice on how to migrate away from SMS based multi factor authentication.

CISA recommends iPhone users turn on ‘Lockdown mode’, which strictly limits certain apps and makes many features unavailable in order to reduce the attack surface that attackers could potentially exploit.

The scale of this attack makes it a serious concern for any high-ranking officials, with major networks like Verizon, AT&T, and Lumen Technologies found to have threat actors with access inside their systems.

“Highly targeted individuals should assume that all communications between mobile devices — including government and personal devices — and internet services are at risk of interception or manipulation,” CISA said.

Communications remain an attractive target for foreign actors, as breaches can result in significant disruptions and sensitive data loss.

US communications in particular have come under attack this year, especially against government and political targets in the run up to the US election last month. A ‘hack and leak’ campaign hit president-elect Donald Trump on the campaign trail in an attempt to compromise the campaign, which resulted in two indictments for the suspected individuals.

Via The Record

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Ellen has been writing for almost four years, with a focus on post-COVID policy whilst studying for BA Politics and International Relations at the University of Cardiff, followed by an MA in Political Communication. Before joining TechRadar Pro as a Junior Writer, she worked for Future Publishing’s MVC content team, working with merchants and retailers to upload content.