Feds urge people to encrypt messages: how do we do that?

The FBI and others are now recommending that Americans send encrypted messages while texting or emailing someone.

This comes after officials told NBC News that there was an unprecedented cyberattack on American telecommunications companies by China.

NBC CT Responds breaks down how we do that.

What is encryption?  

Sending encrypted text means the data gets scrambled as it is sent, and only a recipient with the correct "key" can un-scramble and open it.

“The best protection that you can have is to make sure every communication you are making is what they call 'end-to-end encryption,' and that’s what the government is recommending. And what means is that the message is encrypted before it leaves your phone and it’s decrypted on the other end,” said tech expert Lon Seidman, of LON.TV.

Seidman says if you have an iPhone and text another iPhone through iMessage, that’s encrypted.

Similarly, if Google messages are sent between Android users, that’s encrypted.

But an iPhone texting an Android, for example, that’s not encrypted.

If you’re in that boat, he recommends using Signal, WhatsApp, and even Facebook messenger, which has some degree of end-to-end encryption.

Are emails generally encrypted?

No.

Seidman says unless you have a Gmail account and you send a message to another Gmail account, that has protection.

Or in those rare cases when a tax or financial professional uses an encryption service when protecting confidential information.

He says to do your research for the platforms you use.

Why should this matter to you?

People do send passwords or account information over text, or even private pictures or stories.

“If you’re thinking about it from an espionage standpoint to build up a dossier of people before they became involved in government activity. There’s a lot of opportunity for blackmail or whatever it is,” said Seidman.

Essentially, you never know if a friend or relative or someone in your web of connections could become someone pretty important. Think: politics, big corporations, you name it. They, and therefore a long-lost text, could become a target.

Seidman says the best advice is to keep it encrypted or write a letter.

But he stresses, that whatever you type, no matter how protected, it could be seen, and who knows if future bad actors can crack our current encryptions in years to come.