On December 27 (Friday), a senior official at the White House confirmed that the ninth American telecommunications company had become a victim of large-scale cyber espionage by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
It is reported that CCP hackers in this cyber attack stole a large amount of private text messages and phone call contents from Americans, but the specific quantity is not yet clear.
Earlier this month, Biden administration officials stated that the actions of CCP hacker organization “Salt Typhoon” have impacted at least eight American telecommunications companies and dozens of countries.
Anne Neuberger, Deputy National Security Advisor for Cyber and Emerging Technology at the White House, revealed to the media on Friday that after providing guidance to companies on how to identify CCP hackers in their networks, the government confirmed a new affected enterprise.
This incident has deeply shocked national security officials, exposing vulnerabilities in cybersecurity within the private sector in the United States, and demonstrating the infiltrative and unrestrained actions of CCP hackers.
Hackers breached the networks of American telecommunications companies to obtain customer call records and further eavesdropped on the private communications of specific “individuals.”
Although the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has not publicly disclosed the identities of the victims, officials believe that communications of high-ranking US government officials and prominent political figures are likely the main targets of CCP eavesdropping.
Neuberger stated that due to the cautious and cunning actions of CCP hackers, it is currently impossible to accurately estimate how many Americans have been affected by the “Salt Typhoon” operation. However, she pointed out that a “significant portion” of the victims are located in the Washington D.C. and Virginia areas.
National security officials believe that the aim of CCP hackers is to confirm the identities of mobile phone users and conduct monitoring of text messages and calls on “important targets with government backgrounds.”
Neuberger emphasized the urgency of implementing mandatory cybersecurity measures in the telecommunications industry. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) plans to discuss related issues at its meeting next month.
“We know that relying solely on voluntary cybersecurity measures is not effective in preventing network attacks on our critical infrastructure from China (CCP), Russia, and Iran,” she said.
The CCP government denies any involvement in this hacking operation, instead turning the accusation around to blame the United States for smearing, and claiming to be victims of cyber attacks themselves.