close
close

Association-anemone

Bite-sized brilliance in every update

US confirms China-backed hackers breached telecom providers to steal wiretapping data
asane

US confirms China-backed hackers breached telecom providers to steal wiretapping data

The US government has confirmed that hackers with ties to China have breached several US telecommunications service providers to access wiretapping systems used by law enforcement to surveil Americans.

One joint statement released on Monday, CISA and the FBI said they had discovered “a large and significant” cyberespionage campaign that saw PRC-affiliated actors compromise the networks of “several telecommunications companies” in the United States.

CISA and the FBI did not name the breached organizations, but AT&T, Lumen (formerly CenturyLink) and Verizon are among the telecom providers whose networks were breached, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The WSJ reported that Chinese hackers had access to networks “for months or more,” allowing them to collect “Internet traffic from Internet service providers that count businesses large and small and millions of Americans as customers.”

US government agencies confirmed on Monday that the breaches allowed for the “stealing of customer call record data” and the “compromise of private communications of a limited number of individuals”.

The agencies did not name the individuals targeted, but said they were “mainly involved in government or political activity.” rEPORTS said last month that hackers linked to China targeted the phones of then-presidential candidate Donald Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance.

The PRC hacking campaign also allowed China-linked hackers – known as “Salt typhoon” — to copy “certain information that has been subject to US law enforcement requests pursuant to court orders,” according to the statement.

Former FBI and CISA said they were investigating breaches by a China-backed hacking group at several telecommunications providers, but did not say whether data was stolen or whether the hackers accessed systems used to fulfill legal wiretapping requests.

“The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) continue to provide technical assistance, rapidly share information to assist other potential victims, and work to strengthen cyber defenses in the commercial communications sector,” the agencies said. . “We encourage any organization that believes they may be a victim to contact their local FBI or CISA office.”