The US government is urging top officials to shut down mobile devices after telecom breaches

The US government is urging top politicians and senior officials to shut down their devices amid ongoing breaches by at least eight major telecommunications providers in China.

one advice on WednesdayThe US cyber security agency CISA said that “highly targeted officials”, including those in government, should activate advanced security features, for example. Apple’s lock modelimits the functionality of iPhones to limit the overall attack surface of the phone.

The agency also recommends officers switch to end-to-end encrypted messaging apps like Signal. The recommendation comes on the heels of U.S. officials called the Americans and to use encrypted messaging applications to minimize the risk of interception of their communications.

“Encryption is your friend — it makes your data unreadable, even if an adversary compromises it,” Jeff Greene, CISA’s assistant executive director, told reporters Wednesday.

The agency also recommends using phishing-resistant multifactor authentication and telco level account PINs To protect against SIM swapping attacks.