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He White House A ninth U.S. telecommunications company said Friday that it has been hacked as part of a Chinese espionage campaign that gave the country’s officials access to Americans’ private text messages and phone conversations.
The Biden administration said earlier this month that at least eight telecommunications companies and dozens of nations had been affected by the Chinese hacking operation known as Salt Typhoon.
On Friday, Deputy National Security Advisor Anne Neuberger told reporters that a ninth victim had been identified after the administration released guidance for companies on how to track down Chinese hackers on their networks.
Hackers compromised telecommunications company networks to collect customer call logs and access the private communications of a limited number of people, authorities said.
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Anne Neuberger, deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technologies, speaks during a news conference at the White House, March 21, 2022, in Washington. (AP)
The FBI has not publicly identified any of the victims, but officials believe that senior US government officials and prominent political figures were among the victims whose communications were accessed.
Neuberger said officials did not yet have an accurate idea of how many Americans overall were attacked by Salt Typhoon, in part because the hackers were careful with their methods, but he said a “large number” of the victims were in Washington, D.C. . and Virginia.
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Anne Neuberger, deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technologies, speaks during the daily briefing at the White House on February 17, 2021 in Washington. (Getty Images)
Officials said they believed the hackers wanted to identify who owned the devices and spy on their text messages and phone calls if they were “targets of government interest,” Neuberger said.
Most victims are “primarily involved in government or political activities,” the FBI said.
Neuberger said the hack demonstrated the need for cybersecurity practices in the telecommunications industry, which the Federal Communications Commission will examine during a meeting next month.
U.S. and Chinese flags are placed before a meeting between U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng at the Diaoyutai State Guest House in Beijing, China, Saturday, July 2023. (Mark Schiefelbein/Pool via REUTERS)
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He also said, without offering details, that the government was planning more actions in the coming weeks in response to the hacking campaign, although he did not say what they were.
“We know that voluntary cybersecurity practices are inadequate to protect against hacking of our critical infrastructure by China, Russia and Iran,” he said.
He chinese government has denied responsibility for the hacking campaign.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
