Ninth US telecom firm hit by Chinese cyber espionage ring
The ninth American telecommunications company has fallen victim to hackers. Chinese spies gained access to private text messages and phone calls of an unspecified number of Americans. This attack was reported on Friday by a senior White House official.
Biden administration officials reported in December that at least eight telecommunications companies suffered as a result of the Chinese hacking offensive. Deputy National Security Advisor Anne Neuberger stated on Friday that a ninth victim has been identified.
According to the AP news agency, the attacks may be the work of a hacker group named by Microsoft as Salt Typhoon, involved in extensive data theft online. The administration issued guidelines to companies on how to track down Chinese criminals within their networks.
Chinese hackers attack. Target: American telecommunications companies
Salt Typhoon has been a concern for national security officials since 2020. The hackers exploit cyber security vulnerabilities.
They broke into telecommunications networks to obtain customer call records and access private communications. The FBI did not provide a list of affected companies.
Officials believe that among those whose communications were accessed, there are high-ranking US government officials. The FBI stated that most of the individuals who were targeted by the hackers "primarily involved in government or political activity".
Neuberger said on Friday that authorities do not yet have exact estimates of how many Americans in total were affected. It is known that "a large number" of the affected individuals were located in the Washington, D.C. and Virginia areas.
She said officials believe the goal of the hackers was to determine who owns the phone. If the individuals involved were "government targets of interest", their text messages and phone calls were spied on.
"We know that voluntary cyber security practices are inadequate to protect against China, Russia and Iran hacking of our critical infrastructure," said Deputy National Security Advisor Anne Neuberger. The Chinese government denies responsibility for the hacking attack.
