CNN —
A group of sophisticated hackers linked to the Chinese government has breached multiple U.S. telecommunications companies in recent months, likely searching for sensitive national security information, people briefed on the matter said. A source familiar with the matter told CNN.
U.S. law enforcement officials believe the hackers may have accessed the wiretap warrant requests, two of the sources said, but authorities are still working to determine what information the hackers obtained. It is said that there is. U.S. broadband internet providers AT&T, Verizon and Lumen were also targeted, sources said.
U.S. authorities are concerned that the recently discovered hack could harm national security. This is the latest sophisticated hack targeting a U.S. federal agency that investigators say has ties to China, and tensions between the two countries over cyber espionage and other national security issues. It occurred during the
As the backbone of Internet and telephone communications, U.S. telecommunications companies hold vast amounts of caller and user data. U.S. law enforcement agencies request access to specific portions of that data through warrants as part of criminal and national security investigations.
Some of these investigations may be of strong interest to the Chinese government. In recent years, the U.S. government has brought charges against Chinese officials for allegedly harassing Chinese nationals in the U.S. and hacking dissidents and U.S. companies.
AT&T and Lumen declined to comment. Verizon did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
The Justice Department and FBI declined to comment.
The Chinese embassy in Washington, D.C., denied that hackers backed by the Chinese government infiltrated U.S. telecommunications companies, calling the information a “distortion of facts.” Embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu accused the US of “politicizing cybersecurity issues to smear China.”
The Wall Street Journal first reported on the hacking activity.
U.S. officials briefed the House and Senate intelligence committees on China’s hacking efforts, two people familiar with the matter said. Cybersecurity experts from Microsoft and Mandiant, a Google company, are helping investigate the hacking activity.
People investigating the hack have been shocked by the hackers’ skill, tenacity and ability to break into computer networks, said people briefed on the matter. The Chinese hacking team in question is known in the cybersecurity industry as Salt Typhoon.
But U.S. officials and private experts say the Chinese government has a number of other hacking teams at its disposal that can conduct espionage and disrupt computer networks. FBI Director Christopher Wray said Chinese government-backed hackers outnumber FBI cyber employees 50 to 1.
Another Chinese government-backed hacker group is lurking in U.S. transportation and communications networks and trying to use its access to disrupt the U.S. response to a possible Chinese invasion of Taiwan, U.S. officials say. insisted.
Last year, on the eve of Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s high-profile visit to China, another Chinese group hacked into unclassified email accounts of senior U.S. officials, CNN reported.
Aiming to sway public opinion in the face of detailed allegations from the US government, China has stepped up its accusations that the US government is conducting cyberattacks against Chinese organizations.
Hacking and information manipulation are regular points of contention in bilateral meetings. Chinese President Xi Jinping told US President Joe Biden that China would not interfere in the 2024 presidential election when the two met in California last year, CNN previously reported.
