Chinese cyberattack infiltrating the networks of US broadband communication companies is being investigated. Authorities are investigating the possibility that hackers accessed sensitive information used by the federal government for legal wiretapping and surveillance.
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on Saturday that hackers had breached major US telecom firms over several months in search of sensitive national information.
Major telecom firms, including Verizon, AT&T, and Lumen Technologies, have found intrusions. As a result, US authorities are supervising a high-intensity investigation to determine the significance of such hacking. WSJ reported that this attack is believed to be the work of a Chinese hacking group, Salt Typhoon. The compromised surveillance systems were established to assist law enforcement by responding to information requests upon warrants. US federal law mandates telecom companies allow authorities to conduct electronic surveillance under court orders.
Hackers appear to have collected volumes of internet traffic from the network for information-gathering purposes. Furthermore, there were indications that hackers also breached several service providers outside the US.
A US official stated that the Biden administration viewed this attack as historically serious and concerning. Western governments and tech companies have long claimed that China employs hackers to access foreign government networks, but the Chinese government continues to deny these allegations.
Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in the US, denied the allegations, claiming that the US intelligence community and cybersecurity firms have been working together to fabricate evidence and spread disinformation regarding the Chinese government’s alleged support of cyberattacks against the United States.
US authorities are also investigating domestic network routers from Cisco Systems due to Salt Typhoon’s access concerns. Microsoft and other cybersecurity firms also conducted investigations to determine whether Salt Typhoon had accessed sensitive, confidential information.
Brandon Wales, former director of the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), said: “It will take time to determine the extent of this incident, but it is the most significant in a long series of warnings about how China has stepped up its cyber attacks, and it is something that businesses and governments absolutely need to take seriously.”
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