Text messages between iOS and Android users might not be secure

Messaging between iOS and Android users is pretty common. However, if you tend to rely on just regular text messages, you might want to stop, at least for now. This is according to a report from Reuters where it seems that text messages between iOS and Android users might not be as secure.

The report has revealed that last week, a Chinese hacking group calling themselves “Salt Typhoon” reportedly stole tons of metadata from Americans. Apparently they took advantage of security flaws in US communication networks, where regular text messages were vulnerable to being intercepted. This is due to the lack of an end-to-end encryption standard.

This doesn’t mean that iOS and Android users can’t message each other anymore. Instead, you might want to turn to third-party messaging apps like WhatsApp or Signal. This is because a lot of modern day messaging apps already offer end-to-end encryption. This means that even if your message were to get intercepted, the hackers cannot read its contents.

So, if for whatever reason you’re still using regular SMS, it could be time to consider switching to a third-party app that has end-to-end encryption, or maybe RCS, which Apple has recently enabled on its iOS devices.