Latest news with #CatherineSzpindor
Fast Company
28-06-2025
- Politics
- Fast Company
WhatsApp just got banned on Capitol Hill. Here's how you can make the Meta messaging platform more secure
The U.S. House of Representatives' Chief Administrative Officer (CAO), Catherine Szpindor, informed congressional staffers this week that WhatsApp is now banned from government phones. The move came after the CAO's Office of Cybersecurity deemed the Meta-owned app to be 'high-risk to users'—a claim that WhatsApp quickly rebutted. But the CAO is correct. While WhatsApp is one of the more secure messaging apps out there, it does have some privacy and security risks. Users can mitigate some of these risks, but others are beyond their control. Here's why WhatsApp is now banned in the U.S. House of Representatives and how you can make the app more secure on your phone. What the Office of Cybersecurity said, exactly The news that the CAO's Office of Cybersecurity had announced a ban on WhatsApp this week came from Axios. On Tuesday, the publication published parts of an internal CAO memo it received, which was sent to congressional staffers on Monday, announcing that WhatsApp was now verboten on government phones. The memo stipulated that 'House staff are NOT allowed to download or keep the WhatsApp application on any House device, including any mobile, desktop, or web browser versions of its products.' It went on to add: 'If you have a WhatsApp application on your House-managed device, you will be contacted to remove it.' The reason? According to the memo, 'The Office of Cybersecurity has deemed WhatsApp a high-risk to users due to the lack of transparency in how it protects user data, absence of stored data encryption, and potential security risks involved with its use.' The CAO didn't provide further details in the memo regarding the above risks. Still, it's easy to interpret some of the things that may have made the CAO leery about the continued use of WhatsApp by Congressional staffers. WhatsApp's transparency issue WhatsApp, like competing secure messaging apps including Apple's iMessages and Signal, is end-to-end encrypted, meaning that no parties other than the ones in the chat, even including Meta, can read the chat messages. But WhatsApp collects a lot more metadata from each chat than other secure messaging apps do, and it sends this info to Meta A chat's metadata includes information such as the identities of the chat participants, IP addresses, phone numbers, and the timestamps of messages. No one knows exactly what Meta does with this metadata. Still, it is shared with Meta's other platforms, including Instagram and Facebook. It is likely used to help the company build social graphs of users, leveraged for advertising purposes, and analyzed by the company to understand who is using their apps, and when and where. This opaqueness is likely some of the 'lack of transparency' risk that the CAO was referring to. As for the 'absence of stored data encryption,' the CAO may have been referring to the default method by which WhatsApp backs up a user's chats. While WhatsApp chats are end-to-end encrypted, if a user backs up those chats to the cloud, the backup itself is not end-to-end encrypted by default. This means that if a bad actor gains access to a WhatsApp user's cloud backup, they could read all of that user's messages. It's no wonder the CAO's Office of Cybersecurity finds this worrying. WhatsApp also doesn't have other privacy and security features on by default, including the ability to lock the app behind biometrics and requiring two-step verification when a WhatsApp account is installed on another phone. If you don't work in the House of Representatives, you can still keep WhatsApp on your phone. But you might want to mitigate its privacy and security risks. Here's how. How to make WhatsApp more secure on your phone Unfortunately, there's nothing you can do about WhatsApp's metadata problem. Meta designs WhatsApp so that the metadata of your chats is sent directly to the company. There's no way you can turn this data collection off. But you can make the app more secure on your phone by following some simple steps, including: End-to-end encrypt your WhatsApp backups: In WhatsApp, go to Settings>Chats>Chat Backup>End-to-End Encrypted Backup and turn this option on. Now your chat backups saved in the cloud will be end-to-end encrypted. Lock WhatsApp: You can set WhatsApp to refuse to open without further authentication by locking the app. This means that even if someone has access to your unlocked phone, they won't be able to open WhatsApp unless they know your phone's PIN, or have your face or fingerprint. To lock WhatsApp, go to WhatsApp's Settings>Privacy>App Lock and toggle the feature on. Enable two-step verification: If someone logs into your WhatsApp account on their phone, they'll be able to see your messages. That's why you should set up two-step verification for your account. This will require a PIN that you set to be entered whenever an attempt is made to log into your WhatsApp account on a new device. If the PIN isn't entered correctly, the new device won't have access to your account. To enable two-step verification, go to WhatsApp's Settings>Account>Two-Step Verification and toggle the feature on. Apps the CAO suggests using instead When reached for comment on the CAO's decision to ban WhatsApp, the organization's chief administrative officer, Catherine Szpindor, told Fast Company, 'Protecting the People's House is our topmost priority, and we are always monitoring and analyzing for potential cybersecurity risks that could endanger the data of House Members and staff. We routinely review the list of House-authorized apps and will amend the list as deemed appropriate.' In the past, the CAO has banned or imposed partial bans on various foreign apps, including those from ByteDance, such as TikTok. But the CAO has also previously announced bans or restrictions on apps made by American companies, including Microsoft Copilot and the free versions of ChatGPT. As for Meta, a company spokesperson told Fast Company that it disagrees with the CAO's characterization of WhatsApp 'in the strongest possible terms.' The spokesperson also asserted that, when it comes to end-to-end encryption, WhatsApp offers 'a higher level of security than most of the apps on the CAO's approved list that do not offer that protection.' In the Office of Cybersecurity's memo, the agency provided guidance on alternative secure messaging apps that House staffers could use now that WhatsApp had been banned. According to Axios, those apps include Apple's iMessage and FaceTime, Microsoft Teams, Wickr, and Signal.
Time of India
24-06-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Stop using WhatsApp, use Apple iMessage .... and these apps: US House of Representatives 'ban memo'
FILE (AP Photo/Martin Meissner, File) The US House od Representative's Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) informed Congressional staffers that messaging app WhatsApp is banned on their government devices. According to a report by Axios, Facebook-parent Meta's WhatsApp messaging platform has been added to a list of apps banned from government-issued devices for congressional staffers in the US House of Representatives . The move is said to be driven by concerns about the WhatsApp's data security. The ban, which centers on the vulnerability of staffers' data, comes as Congress is also taking steps to limit the use of AI programmes it deems similarly risky. The Chief Administrative Officer (COA) has in recent years set at least partial bans on DeepSeek, ByteDance apps and Microsoft Copilot. It has also reportedly heavily restricted staffers' use of ChatGPT, instructing offices to only use the paid version, ChatGPT Plus. The CAO email also offers alternative messaging apps that employees can use. It said that Microsoft Teams, Wickr, Signal, Apple iMessage and Apple FaceTime are all acceptable alternatives to WhatsApp. What CAO said on adding WhatsApp to 'ban list' by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like CUPRA Terramar Híbrido desde 34.600€. CUPRA Ver oferta Undo 'Protecting the People's House is our topmost priority, and we are always monitoring and analyzing for potential cybersecurity risks that could endanger the data of House Members and staff,' Chief Administrative Officer Catherine Szpindor said in a statement. 'We routinely review the list of House-authorized apps and will amend the list as deemed appropriate.' What CAO's email to employees says "The Office of Cybersecurity has deemed WhatsApp a high-risk to users due to the lack of transparency in how it protects user data, absence of stored data encryption, and potential security risks involved with its use," the CAO said in the email obtained by Axios. "House staff are NOT allowed to download or keep the WhatsApp application on any House device, including any mobile, desktop, or web browser versions of its products," the memo added. It further said that employees who have WhatsApp on their devices will be asked to delete it. "If you have a WhatsApp application on your House-managed device, you will be contacted to remove it," the email said. It email also warns employees to be wary of potential phishing scams and texts from unknown numbers. The WhatsApp ban is the latest in a series of conflicts between the Meta and the US government. Meta is still awaiting a ruling by a federal judge in the US Federal Trade Commission's lawsuit against the company that seeks to break it up for being an alleged monopoly AI Masterclass for Students. Upskill Young Ones Today!– Join Now
Entrepreneur
24-06-2025
- Business
- Entrepreneur
Here's Why WhatsApp Was Banned on US House Devices
Staff members must also remove WhatsApp from their devices if it was previously downloaded. Meta's popular messaging app, WhatsApp, has been banned from the U.S. House of Representatives, the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Catherine Szpindor told staff there on Monday. "The Office of Cybersecurity has deemed WhatsApp a high-risk to users due to the lack of transparency in how it protects user data, absence of stored data encryption, and potential security risks involved with its use," the email said, seen by Axios. Related: Microsoft Employees Are Banned From Using This Popular AI App The note said the app is banned from all government devices, including phones and computers. "House staff are NOT allowed to download or keep the WhatsApp application on any House device, including any mobile, desktop, or web browser versions of its products," the email added. "If you have a WhatsApp application on your House-managed device, you will be contacted to remove it." Meanwhile, Meta spokesperson Andy Stone responded on X that the tech giant disagrees "in the strongest possible terms." "We know members and their staffs regularly use WhatsApp and we look forward to ensuring members of the House can join their Senate counterparts in doing so officially," Stone wrote. Messages on WhatsApp are end-to-end encrypted by default, meaning only the recipients and not even WhatsApp can see them. This is a higher level of security than most of the apps on the CAO's approved list that do not offer that protection. — Andy Stone (@andymstone) June 23, 2025 "Messages on WhatsApp are end-to-end encrypted by default, meaning only the recipients and not even WhatsApp can see them," Stone added. "This is a higher level of security than most of the apps on the CAO's approved list that do not offer that protection." Szpindor told CNBC in a written statement that "protecting the People's House is our topmost priority," and this was enacted after "monitoring and analyzing for potential cybersecurity risks that could endanger the data of House Members and staff." It's not the first tech ban that the CAO has enacted, either. ChatGPT is restricted, and there have been full and partial bans on several tools and apps, including DeepSeek, TikTok, and Microsoft Copilot. Related: 'President Trump Does Not Want TikTok to Go Dark': The TikTok Ban Deadline Was Extended Again. Here Are the Top Bidders.
Yahoo
24-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
美國國會工作人員被要求刪除WhatsApp
據《Axios》周一報道，美國眾議院首席行政官(CAO)Catherine Szpindor通知國會工作人員，他們應該從其工作設備中刪除Meta(META)旗下WhatsApp。 報道引用的CAO電子郵件指出，網絡安全辦公室已將WhatsApp視為對使用者存在高風險，因為它在如何保護用戶數據方面缺乏透明度，沒有儲存的數據加密，以及使用時涉及潛在的安全風險。眾議院員工不得在任何國會設備上下載或保留WhatsApp應用程式，包括其產品的任何移動、桌面或網絡瀏覽器版本。 同時，據報道，Microsoft Teams、Wickr、Signal、iMessage 和FaceTime都被允許留下。此前，該辦公室禁止了DeepSeek、Microsoft Copilot和ByteDance的應用程式，並限制OpenAI的ChatGPT的使用。 (to/s)~ 阿思達克財經新聞 網址: Sign in to access your portfolio
