WASHINGTON — A ninth US telecommunications company has been confirmed to have been hacked a China’s vast espionage campaign he introduced officials Beijing Access to the private texts and phone conversations of an unknown number of Americans was disclosed on Friday, a senior White House official said.
Biden administration officials said this month at least eight telecommunications companiesas well as dozens of nations, were affected by the Chinese hacking blitz known as Salt Typhoon.
But Deputy National Security Adviser Anne Neuberger told reporters on Friday that a ninth victim had been identified after the administration released guidelines for companies to hunt down the Chinese culprits on their networks.
Neuberger’s update is the latest development in a massive hacking operation that has alarmed national security officials, exposed cybersecurity vulnerabilities in the private sector and revealed the sophistication of Chinese hacking.
Hackers compromised telecom companies’ networks to obtain customer call logs and gain access to the private communications of what officials said is a limited number of people. Although the FBI has not publicly identified any of the victims, officials believe that high-ranking US government officials and prominent political figures are among those whose communications were accessed.
Neuberger said Friday that officials still did not know exactly how many Americans were affected by the salt typhoon, partly because the Chinese were cautious about their techniques, but that there was a “significant number” in the Washington-Virginia area.
Officials believe the hackers’ goal was to identify the phones’ owners and, if they were “government targets,” to spy on their texts and phone calls, he said.
The FBI said most of the people targeted by hackers are “primarily involved in government or political activity.”
Neuberger said the episode highlighted the need for cybersecurity practices needed in the telecommunications industry, which the Federal Communications Commission will take up at a meeting next month. He also said the government was planning additional actions in the coming weeks in response to the hacking campaign, although he did not say what they would be.
“We know that voluntary cybersecurity practices are inadequate to protect against hacking of our critical infrastructure by China, Russia and Iran,” he said.
The Chinese government has denied responsibility for the hack.
