A new US telecommunications company was hacked by Chinese hackers. It is the ninth reported by the White House.
A senior White House official confirmed Friday that a ninth U.S. telecommunications company was hacked as part of an extensive spying campaign by China, which allowed Beijing officials to access private text messages and phone conversations. of an unknown number of Americans.
Officials in President Joe Biden's administration said this month that at least eight telecommunications companies, as well as dozens of nations, were affected by the Chinese hacking group known as Salt Typhoon.
But Anne Neuberger, deputy national security adviser for cybersecurity and emerging technologies, told reporters Friday that a ninth victim was identified after the government guided companies on how to detect Chinese attackers on their networks.
Neuberger's update is the latest development in a massive hacking operation that has alarmed national security officials, exposed cybersecurity vulnerabilities in the private sector and revealed the sophistication of Chinese hackers.
Hackers broke into telecommunications companies' networks to obtain customer call records and access the private communications of “a limited number of individuals.”
Although the FBI has not publicly identified any of the victims, authorities believe that those whose communications were tapped included high-ranking U.S. government officials and prominent political figures.
Neuberger said officials still don't have a precise idea of how many Americans in total were affected by Salt Typhoon, in part because the Chinese were careful with their techniques, but a “large number” were in the Washington-Virginia area.
Authorities think the hackers' goal was to identify the owners of the phones and, if they were “government targets of interest,” spy on their text messages and phone calls.
The FBI noted that most of the targeted individuals are “primarily involved in government or political activities.”
Neuberger said the episode highlighted the need to establish mandatory cybersecurity practices in the telecommunications industry, something the Federal Communications Commission will address at a meeting next month.
“We know that voluntary cybersecurity practices are inadequate to protect us from hacks by China, Russia and Iran against our critical infrastructure,” he said.
The Chinese government has denied responsibility for the hack.