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Chinese hackers Salt Typhoon have coordinated a devastating attack on American telcos with hundreds of thousands of users thought to be impacted.
The United States administration has described the incident as one of the biggest intelligence compromises ever, a wide-ranging attack aimed at several nations.
As reported by Sky News, the access to critical American infrastructure is ongoing with officials and authorities frantically working to stop the problem.
A Washington spokesperson told reporters at least eight U.S. firms had been compromised, in what is a clear escalation of the espionage situation inside the network. Previously, it was acknowledged the likes of Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Lumen had been targeted, amongst others.
The huge metadata heist involves the key details of phone calls, the who, what, when, and where the communications relate to. Call content is not disclosed, but the other specifics can be pieced together to construct a wide vista of a particular person’s activity or relationships.
US officials have specifically stressed the importance of choosing encrypted messaging apps instead of ordinary text messages, to prevent and reduce the chances of interception from hostile actors.
Once again, the hacker group known as Salt Typhoon is said to be responsible for the cyber attack, working on behalf of the Chinese regime.
Despite the scale and serious nature of the incident, senior White House representative Anne Neuberger intimated that no classified material has been accessed.
The Deputy National Security Advisor added not every cell phone on the country’s networks had been involved, but the government believes it was a large number of individuals targeted by the threat actors.
BREAKING: Chinese hackers known as Salt Typhoon compromised at least 8 telecommunications companies, deputy national security advisor @AnneNeuberger announced on a call with reporters, and “we do not believe any have fully removed the Chinese from their networks… Until they…
— Nick Schifrin (@nickschifrin) December 4, 2024
Impossible to predict a time frame
An industry expert added to the gravity of the problem, stating it will be some time before authorities get to the bottom of the intrusion.
Jeff Greene, executive assistant director for cybersecurity at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said the scope of the wide-ranging attack is so serious that it was “impossible” to “predict a time frame on when we’ll have full eviction.”
Addressing the issue is a current government priority with incumbent President Biden briefed on the incidents and response measures.
Conversely, Chinese officials at the embassy in Washington have poured scorn on reports that Beijing – via Salt Typhoon – is responsible.
“The US needs to stop its own cyberattacks against other countries and refrain from using cyber security to smear and slander China,” said embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu.
Image credit: Via Midjourney
