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If you weren't already worried that our smartphones are offering unprecedented access to our private lives as a hacker's dream, the National Security Agency has warned about potential attacks from bad actors.
The use of messaging apps was recently called into question when the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic was seemingly added to a secret Signal group made up of some of the Trump administration's highest-ranking officials.
In the group, it seemed that plans to bomb Yemeni Houthi rebels were revealed ahead of time, with Vice President JD Vance seemingly disagreeing while branding the European Union 'pathetic' at the same time.
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The Pentagon had apparently already issued a company-wide memo about why apps like Signal shouldn't be used for communicating, let alone for discussing covert war plans.
In a recent warning, the NSA said that Google’s Threat Intelligence Group had discovered issues where Russia’s GRU had been fooling Ukrainian officials into allowing access to their Signal accounts.
Although the app was working as intended, it wasn't an isolated incident, with Google adding, "This threat also extends to other popular messaging applications such as WhatsApp and Telegram."
The NSA has responded to Google's report and claimed that the GRU had infiltrated the group invite function on Signal and was tricking Ukrainians into inviting them into secure chats.
Users are told to take heed of the full report, where the NSA writes: "Understand, people are not always who they say they are online."
Apparently, the fault could lie in artificial intelligence, which is sure to do all those Terminator 2 theories no good.
The use of Apple's on-device AI is supposedly responsible for copying and pasting a journalist's email into a text and inadvertently adding their details to the recipient's phone.
Forbes says that you should look out for two specific iPhone settings. Look in Settings > Apps > Signal/WhatsApp > Contacts. Unless this is set to 'none', the respective app will pull through someone's contact details.
To keep things secure, you should find and add contacts manually when you're in Signal or WhatsApp.
The biggest problem comes from AI assuming that contact details have changed. To prevent this, go to Settings > Apple Intelligence & Siri > Apps > Contacts. Disable 'Show Contact Suggestions' and 'Learn from this App' that make contact suggestions while using third-party apps.
The NSA reiterates that you should also disable 'Share Contacts with iOS' in the Signal settings. This should prevent suggestions going the other way.
Forbes says this should stop you from adding your office colleagues to friend groups, but at a more important level, stop journalists from The Atlantic from being invited to covert chats with the President's cabinet. Be warned that Siri won't suggest that you alter one of your contact's details if they change them, but it's a small price to pay for security.
Even though the NSA doesn't specifically mention attachments sent via messages, WhatsApp has recently issued an emergency fix that targeted Windows desktop users and effectively led to the opening of an image and the running of an executable on your device. Basically, if you don't know the source, don't open the attachment. Forbes' Zak Doffman recommends against allowing autosaving of images and videos.
