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NEW MESSAGING GUIDELINES RELEASED

Megan Poljacik • February 25, 2025

You may have heard recently that the FBI and Cyber Security and Infrastructure Security Agency are recommending cell phone users use end to end encryption when sending text messages. Why are they doing this and how does it affect you and your business?


In December of 2024 authorities revealed that Chinese hackers have breached at least 8 major telecom network infrastructures, including those of Verizon and AT&T. Known as Salt Typhoon, the nefarious actors used a “back door” that is used by U.S. foreign intelligence surveillance systems (yes that’s legal wiretapping). Senior officials within the US Government have admitted the hackers have had access since summer of 2024. It appears that they focused heavily on users in the Washington DC area.



As of late December, AT&T and Verizon have stated that their networks are now secure, but the FBI is still recommending that all cell phone users use end to end encryption when using messaging apps. Many organizations use messaging to communicate with customers and employees, so what does this mean for your business?


Take note of of the devices you are using. iMessages between iPhones use end to end encryption by default. Most Android to Android text messages are as well, as long as the service is not using RCN. It is important to note that iPhone to Android Messages are not encrypted. It is recommended that you use a trusted third party, such as Signal or Telegram for any cross-platform messaging. Be sure to read the fine print with these apps, as Telegram end-to-end encryption is not enabled by default and you must manually enable ‘secret chats’ on each conversation. Telegram’s data is encrypted between you and the server, but true end-to-end (only sender and recipient can decrypt) must be manually enabled on Telegram. With Signal, end to end is the default. 


In conclusion, using end-to-end encryption for business messaging is just another tool to protect your business from nefarious actors. It keeps sensitive communications safe and private, which helps reduce the risk of unauthorized access and cyber threats, allowing you to maintain operational integrity.

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Three things in life are certain: death, taxes and the persistent threat of cyberattacks. There are many layers of defense in the onion of cyber security, but at the helm is your firewall. Traditionally firewalls have always been the piece of hardware acting as a barrier between your office network and the wilds of the internet. Then in 2020 the way we work was transformed forever by the global pandemic. Nearly a third of the workforce transitioned to remote, leaving offices empty. Many employees continue to work in non-traditional spaces to this day. How can we defend them against cyberattacks if they are outside the protective reach of an on premise firewall? A firewall is a network security device or software that monitors and controls incoming and outgoing network traffic based on predetermined security rules. Think of it as a moat with a bridge and a guard shack that surrounds a castle. The guards and the moat are the firewall, acting as a barrier and between a trusted internal network (the castle) and untrusted external networks (random people trying to get in), helping to prevent unauthorized access to and from the castle while allowing legitimate traffic to pass through. The outside forces have to “check in” with the guards before they can cross the moat and access the castle.

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Imagine a virus infecting over 85 million Android phones without anyone catching on. Believe it or not, this really happened in 2016! How could a virus be so easily distributed without human intervention? The HummingBad virus was a persistence rootkit, which is a very smart and nasty virus. It is difficult to find and even more difficult to remove. They embed themselves within the system without the users knowledge and they are designed to hide themselves and their activities, even from security software. A rootkit will take over an infected system on its own, or if it cannot gain root access, it will push a fake update prompt, tricking the user into installing. Once the malware has control of the device, it begins downloading and installing apps, and the lucrative business of conning users begins. The HummingBad virus was designed to click on the ads within the apps to generate advertising revenue. This inflated ad click and view counts, allowing the attackers to earn more revenue without actual user engagement. The malware also promoted and installed additional malicious

WOMEN IN TECH: MARGARET HAMILTON

By Megan Poljacik • December 19, 2024
Picture this: You're witnessing the culmination of years of hard work as the first humans are about to land on the moon's surface. Suddenly, the moment is shattered by blaring alarms. This exact scenario unfolded during Apollo 11's momentous moon landing. Luckily, Margaret Hamilton and her accomplished team of NASA engineers had meticulously readied themselves for any imaginable situation. Margaret Hamilton is best known for her work on the Apollo moon missions. In the 1960s, she was the lead software engineer for the Apollo Guidance Computer, which was the specialized computer that was responsible for guiding the Apollo spacecraft to the moon. Her job was to make sure the system was reliable, efficient, and could handle the complex calculations needed for space travel. During the Apollo 11 mission, Margaret Hamilton's team faced a critical situation where the computer system on the lunar module experienced an overload during the landing. This overload was caused by an unexpected increase in processing demands as the computer tried to do numerous tasks at the same time.
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