() – In recent months, a highly skilled group of hackers linked to the Chinese government infiltrated several US telecommunications companies in search of sensitive national security information, several sources briefed on the matter told .
U.S. investigators believe the hackers may have accessed requests for wiretap warrants, according to two of the sources, but authorities are still working to determine what information they may have obtained. US broadband and internet providers AT&T, Verizon and Lumen are among the victims, according to sources.
US authorities are concerned about the possible damage to national security caused by the hack, which they have just discovered. It is the latest sophisticated attack on U.S. federal agencies that investigators have linked to China, and comes amid tensions between Washington and Beijing over cyber espionage and other high-risk national security issues.
As the backbone of telephone and Internet communications, American telecommunications companies hold enormous volumes of data on calls and users. U.S. law enforcement agencies request access, through a court order, to specific portions of that data in criminal and national security investigations.
Some of this research could be of great interest to Beijing. In recent years, the US government has brought charges against Chinese administration agents for allegedly harassing Chinese citizens on US soil and hacking US political dissidents and companies.
AT&T and Lumen declined to comment. Verizon did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
The Justice Department and the FBI declined to comment.
The Chinese embassy in Washington, D.C., denied that Beijing-backed hackers had penetrated American telecommunications companies, calling that information a “distortion of facts.” Embassy spokesman Liu Pengyu accused the United States of “politicizing cybersecurity issues to discredit China.”
The hacking activity was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
US officials briefed the House and Senate intelligence committees on the Chinese hacking campaign, according to two sources. Cybersecurity experts from Microsoft and Mandiant, a company owned by Google, have collaborated in the investigation of the attacks.
People investigating the hacks were surprised by the hackers’ skill, persistence and ability to break into networks, sources briefed on the matter said. The Chinese hacking team in question is known in the cybersecurity sector as Salt Typhoon.
However, the Chinese government has other hacking teams at its disposal that can conduct espionage or disrupt computer networks, according to U.S. officials and private experts. FBI Director Christopher Wray said hackers supported by the Chinese government outnumber FBI cyber personnel by 50 to 1.
Another group of hackers backed by the Chinese government has been lurking in U.S. transportation and communications networks, waiting to use that access to disrupt any U.S. response to a possible Chinese invasion of Taiwan, U.S. officials have reported. .
Another Chinese group broke into the unclassified email accounts of top US diplomats last year, on the eve of a high-level visit by Secretary of State Antony Blinken to China, reported.
Seeking to sway public opinion in the face of detailed accusations from the US government, China increasingly accused the US government of carrying out cyberattacks against Chinese organizations.
Hacking and information operations are a common point of contention in bilateral meetings. Chinese leader Xi Jinping told US President Joe Biden that China would not interfere in the 2024 US presidential election when the two met in California last year, previously reported.
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