The Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Mark Warner, stated that the spy activities by the Chinese Communist government have penetrated over a dozen American telecommunications companies, making it the “most serious telecommunications hacking attack” in U.S. history.
In an interview with The Washington Post this week, Warner made the above remarks. The former telecommunications venture capitalist stated that these hackers belong to the “Salt Typhoon” organization, capable of real-time audio call interception and, in some cases, moving from one telecommunications network to another using “trust” relationships.
Warner added that the intruders are still within these networks. Evicting the hackers may require replacing a large number of devices across the U.S., especially outdated routers and switches.
Earlier this month, U.S. authorities disclosed that hackers connected to China had breached an unspecified number of telecom companies, intercepting surveillance data used by U.S. law enforcement.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) stated in a joint statement on November 13 that hackers had compromised networks of multiple U.S. telecom companies, stealing customer call records and disrupting personal communications. They targeted a limited number of individuals involved in government or political activities. The hackers also copied certain information provided by U.S. law enforcement when seeking court orders.
Regarding the cyberattacks on U.S. telecommunications companies, Warner mentioned that although fewer than 150 victims (most of them in the D.C. area) had been confirmed and notified by the FBI, the total number of records of these individuals contacting others through calls or texts amounts to “millions,” and “this number could sharply rise.”
He stated that these records could provide additional information to help China identify other users of devices they want to target.
Warner also emphasized that “the American people need to know” how severe the breach is. Compared to the attacks on telecom companies by “Salt Typhoon,” the Russian-linked hackers’ assaults on the U.S.’s largest fuel pipeline, Colonial Pipeline, and SolarWinds are just “child’s play.”
“China is constantly working to infiltrate telecommunications systems around the world and steal massive amounts of data,” he said.
Apart from the U.S., European countries such as Germany, the Netherlands, and the U.K. have also disclosed Chinese network attacks targeting their systems. Beijing has repeatedly denied these allegations.
In July of this year, Germany accused China of launching a cyberattack on the German Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy in 2021, describing the attack as “for espionage purposes.” Germany summoned China’s ambassador to Berlin and lodged a formal protest over the incident.
In March, the U.K. revealed details of Chinese network attacks and announced sanctions against two Chinese individuals and one Chinese entity, while accusing Chinese hackers of trying to infiltrate the email accounts of British lawmakers critical of Beijing.
In February, the Dutch Military Intelligence and Security Service stated that a network spy supported by China infiltrated the Netherlands’ military network last year. This marked the first time the Netherlands publicly pointed the finger at China for this type of spying activity. At the time, Dutch Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren stated that exposing China’s covert spy activities would help enhance the international community’s ability to resist such network espionage operations.