The FBI was noted by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., to have provided inadequate mobile device security hardening advice to Senate staffers in the wake of the compromise of the personal phone of White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles in an impersonation campaign discovered in late May, reports KrebsOnSecurity.
With recommendations ensuring up-to-date phone software, regular device rebooting, and avoidance of public Wi-Fi networks and interactions with dubious email links or attachments no longer sufficient to combat sophisticated cyber tools leveraged by foreign cyberespionage actors, the FBI should instead urge the activation of built-in Android and iOS anti-spyware defenses, wrote Wyden in a letter to FBI Director Kash Patel. Additional processes that would hinder mobile device tracking, such as the implementation of ad blockers, deactivation of ad tracking IDs, and data broker opt-outs, should also be advocated by the agency, according to Wyden. Immediate activation of Apple's Lockdown Mode or Google's Advanced Protection on Android among lawmakers and their staffers has also been supported by International Computer Science Institute researcher Nicholas Weaver.
With recommendations ensuring up-to-date phone software, regular device rebooting, and avoidance of public Wi-Fi networks and interactions with dubious email links or attachments no longer sufficient to combat sophisticated cyber tools leveraged by foreign cyberespionage actors, the FBI should instead urge the activation of built-in Android and iOS anti-spyware defenses, wrote Wyden in a letter to FBI Director Kash Patel. Additional processes that would hinder mobile device tracking, such as the implementation of ad blockers, deactivation of ad tracking IDs, and data broker opt-outs, should also be advocated by the agency, according to Wyden. Immediate activation of Apple's Lockdown Mode or Google's Advanced Protection on Android among lawmakers and their staffers has also been supported by International Computer Science Institute researcher Nicholas Weaver.
