Salt Typhoon Cyberespionage Operation

By Surbhi Misra

(Reuters) – The Chinese-linked Salt Typhoon cyberespionage operation targeted AT&T's systems. However, the wireless carrier announced on Saturday that its U.S. networks are now secure as it collaborates with law enforcement and government officials. This marks the company's first acknowledgment of the attacks.

> "We detect no activity by nation-state actors in our networks at this time. Based on our current investigation of this attack, the People's Republic of China targeted a small number of individuals of foreign intelligence interest," an AT&T spokesperson stated.

While only a few compromised cases of information were identified, AT&T is actively monitoring and remediating its networks to safeguard customer data in conjunction with authorities to assess and mitigate the threat.

On Friday, U.S. officials added a ninth unnamed telecom company to the list of entities compromised by the Salt Typhoon hackers, noting that the Chinese gained broad access to networks. This capability included the potential to "geolocate millions of individuals and record phone calls at will."

The U.S. Department of Defense and the Federal Communications Commission did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment outside regular hours. China’s foreign ministry was also unreachable for comments.

Previously, hackers were alleged to have targeted several telecom companies, including Verizon and Lumen, stealing telephone audio intercepts along with vast amounts of call record data.

In reaction to the cyberattack, the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency urged senior government and political figures to transition mobile communications to end-to-end encrypted apps.

Targets of Salt Typhoon reportedly included officials linked to Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump's presidential campaigns.

Chinese officials have dismissed the allegations as disinformation and have stated that Beijing "firmly opposes and combats cyber attacks and cyber theft in all forms."

There is increasing concern regarding the size and scope of the reported Chinese hacking into U.S. telecommunications networks, as inquiries rise about when companies and the government can reassure Americans on this issue.