It’s all suddenly gone wrong for Google Messages—here’s what you need to do.
Republished on December 9 with a new FBI warning into encrypted messaging and an explanation as to why RCS is not secure between iPhone and Android, addressing user confusion after the recent text messaging warnings.to see the realization of its “seamless messaging” dream, no sooner was it here than it was gone. The question now is whether there’s any chance it will ever come back.
But with timing being everything, the final concrete block standing in the way of that RCS train might be Apple’s imminent iPhone update—iOS 18.2. Much to everyone’s surprise, the iMaker has decided to offer all its users—not just those in regulated Europe–the option to change their default apps. That means selecting an over-the-tops like WhatsApp or Signal for default calls and messages for the first time.
Keeping with the security theme, to ensure the integrity of end-to-end encryption, you need to do two things. First, set up WhatsApp properly. That means two-factor authentication and passkeys when available. Second, ensure you don’t take risks with links, downloads and app installs. Whatever messenger you use, if an attacker takes control of your phone through malware or luring you to install a malicious app, it’s as if you haven’t secured your content at all.
Now, though, that doesn’t cut it anymore—at least not when messaging cross-platform. There hasn’t been any real response from encrypted platforms to the FBI and CISA warnings last week, but we can likely expect reminders out of WhatsApp that users who haven’t switched should think of doing so now.While the immediate impact of the FBI’s text messaging warning was to push users to encrypted platforms, there is a new sting in the tail.
And this is not a surprise. Google essentially took responsibility for driving RCS adoption away from the carriers given their slow progress, and instead turned RCS instead into an Android default under the covers of Google Messages. It then added a wrap of its own features and its own security, which is why its end-to-end encryption is built on top of RCS and is not part of RCS.
Rcs Android Rcs Iphone Rcs Ios 18.2 Apple Rcs Iphone Rcs Fbi Texting Fbi Encryption
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