When the FBI issues a security warning, it’s not just US citizens that need to pay attention. In early December the agency revealed that the China-backed group Salt Typhoon is hacking US phone networks with a view to steal sensitive information from text messages (SMS), including political communications and national security data.
The attack, one of the biggest in US history, began earlier this year and has targeted dozens of companies, including the three biggest networks in the US: AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon.
"SMS was created in the 1980s, when little thought was given to the threat of messages being intercepted,,