Android and Apple users: Critical RCS messaging protection is still months away despite FBI warning

The Federal Bureau of Investigation recently warned Apple and Android users to stop texting each other using the RCS protocol because of a massive telecommunication breach by hacking group Salt Typhoon. According to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the FBI, Salt Typhoon was responsible for compromising major carriers, including AT&T and Verizon, in what is being considered one of the largest infrastructure attacks in US history. Following the breach, which mostly affected high-value government officials, CISA and the FBI have issued a wide public interest advisory for US citizens to use chat apps that offer end-to-end encryption.

While Apple recently adopted the RCS protocol in its messaging app iMessage, texting between Android phones and iPhones is not protected by end-to-end encryption. Even though iMessage messages between iPhone users are end-to-end encrypted and Google Messages also supports encryption on its own service, RCS texts between Android and iOS users are susceptible to third party interference. We’re now hearing that a fix might be on the way for this problem.

Work in progress but you’ll have to wait

According to CNBC, the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSMA) is spearheading efforts to develop end-to-end encryption between different communication platforms using RCS.

“Work with key industry stakeholders is progressing well and we look forward to updating the market in the coming months,” a spokesperson for GSMA told the news outlet.

So as of now, there’s no clear timeline for when end-to-end encryption will finally arrive for RCS chats between Apple and Android devices. It’s good to know that the work is in progress but the results might still be months away.

While end-to-end encryption is also not fully secure, because hackers have other ways to intercept messages, it’s prudent to have the feature enabled on texting apps that support it. Many apps like WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal and others offer end-to-end encryption, but it’s not always enabled by default. Users should check their app settings to ensure the security method is switched on.