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Why the U.S. government is saying all citizens should use end-to-end encrypted messaging

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The federal government recently revealed a massive hacking campaign called Salt Typhoon that compromised the nation's largest telecommunications companies including AT&T and Verizon .

Federal agencies including the Federal Bureau of Investigation say it was orchestrated by China .

Consumers regularly use different types of messaging technology from the biggest technology companies including Apple , Google Messages , WhatsApp and SMS , but the level of protection varies.

Facebook Messenger offers end-to-end encrypted messages, but not in all cases.

Google Messages is the default messaging app on many devices running the Android operating system.

Messages aren't encrypted when communicating with an iPhone user, for example.

A Department of Justice antitrust case against Apple harps on failure to offer encryption outside its iOS messaging app.