The FBI and a leading federal cybersecurity agency are warning Android and iPhone users to stop sending unencrypted texts to users of the other operating system following the Salt Typhoon hack of several major U.S. telecommunications providers.

FBI and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) officials warn that the Salt Typhoon cyberattack carried out by actors in China targeted telecommunications companies. The hackers relied on call recordings, live phone calls from certain specific targets, and systems that companies use to process court orders from law enforcement and intelligence agencies to track calls.

Although the breach has yet to be resolved, authorities are encouraging users to communicate through encrypted messaging systems.

Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android smartphones have encryption for iPhone-to-iPhone messages and Android-to-Android messages, respectively, but messages between Android and iPhone users are not encrypted.

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In this illustration, the cyber lock icon is displayed on an Android mobile phone with hacker code in the background. (Photo illustration by Omar Marques/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images / Getty Images)

“Our proposal, which we shared with people internally, is not new here. Encryption is your friend, whether it’s text messaging or if you have the ability to use encrypted voice communications,” said Jeff Greene, deputy director for cybersecurity at CISA. said NBC News in a press briefing.

Greene added that the scale of the breach of telecommunications systems was so large that it was “impossible” for authorities to “predict a time frame as to when we will complete the full evacuation,” the outlet reported.

An FBI official, who did not want to be named, told NBC: “People who want to further protect their mobile device communications would benefit from using a cell phone that automatically receives timely operating system updates, responsibly managed encryption and phishing-resistant.” Security tools like multi-factor authentication provides for email, social media, and other accounts.

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A businessman holding a mobile phone (istock / iStock)

CISA, the FBI, the National Security Agency and cybersecurity agencies from Australia, Canada and New Zealand issued an alert on Wednesday regarding the Salt Typhoon breach, saying that “threat actors affiliated with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) compromised the networks of major global telecommunications companies.” “Require vendors to conduct a comprehensive and significant cyber espionage campaign.”

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The authorities have issued a guide for network engineers and other communications infrastructure managers to use best practices to secure their networks against exploitation by PRC-affiliated and other malicious cyber actors. They added that the guide may also be relevant to “organizations with on-site corporate equipment.”