US Govt Agency CFPB Warns Employees Against Using Personal Cell Phones for Work

Key Takeaways

• The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) sent an email to its workers, asking them not to use their private cell phones for work matters.
• It's worried that Chinese hackers might compromise their personal devices and steal sensitive information.
• The agency has asked its workers to rely on official collaboration platforms such as Cisco WebEx and Microsoft Teams.

A US government agency warned its workers that Chinese threat actors might try to break into their devices. The warning included advice that they shouldn't use their personal devices for handling sensitive work-related information.

The warning was issued by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) through an email that read While there is no evidence that CFPB has been targeted by this unauthorized access, I ask for your compliance with these directives so we reduce the risk that we will be compromised."

It's also worth noting that the aforementioned warning went out to both full-time employees as well as contractual workers.

A US official who spoke on the matter also shared that they're trying to cut down on mobile usage altogether. The agency doesn't want its people to use any form of text messaging or calls for office work.

Instead, it has asked its team to use official collaboration platforms, such as Cisco WebEx and Microsoft Teams. Although they aren't completely immune to cyber attacks, they're certainly safer than regular mobile networks.

Why the Sudden Concern?

The concern stems from the recent attack by a notorious China-backed group called Salt Typhoon.

According to reports, the group targeted the devices of many US top officials and members of Donald Trump's presidential campaign, including Trump himself.

It's unclear, however, how many devices they were actually able to compromise - and there's also no official report on what data has been exfiltrated. Initial investigation indicates that call logs, text messages, and some bits and pieces of call audio were stolen. The latter included some internal conversations among top officials about the US presidential elections.

That's not all, though. Early in October this year, the group also managed to compromise a number of internet service providers (ISPs), including AT&T, Verizon, and Lumen Technologies, cyber systems, and the wiretaps used by the US authorities for surveillance.

This hack allowed it to compromise the data of thousands of citizens. Plus, the more concerning part is we still don't know what the bad actors did with all the stolen data.

What Happens Now?

The issue goes beyond just the CFPB. Multiple organizations and key government officials are targets of the group. So, various government agency leaders have put their heads together to decide what needs to be done next.

For instance, one of the key points of discussion is the implications of rules like the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act that allows law enforcement authorities to access telecommunication carriers, which also allows the attackers to gain access to them.

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