A recently discovered Chinese hacking and spying campaign harvested the data of hundreds of thousands of American cellphone users, possibly stealing information on more than a million customers, ABC News has learned.
Sources familiar with the investigation gave ABC News a detailed sense of the broad scope of what U.S. officials are calling a major intelligence-gathering operation. Chinaexploiting the weaknesses in the communications networks of the nation’s major telecommunications companies.
In a statement Tuesday, FBI and Homeland Security cyber officials said the Chinese were able to steal a “vast amount of data,” officially admitting for the first time that China was able to determine who thousands of cellphone users were talking to. , when they spoke and from where they communicated.
China initially seemed to focus on a large pool of mobile phone users in the national capital region. Those who told ABC News declined to provide numbers, but ABC News was able to obtain more specific information through a series of interviews.
Chinese hackers were then able to narrow their focus and focus on the specific communications of a smaller number of high-ranking and important Americans, and in some cases, China was able to intercept audio calls and review their text from this smaller group of victims. the messages
ABC News has learned that the targets included senior government officials from the Biden administration, sources told ABC News, including at least one cabinet secretary and a senior White House national security adviser.
While the extent of the spying on specific targets remains unclear, sources tell ABC News that some of these high-ranking government officials and Americans were reported to be potential victims.
ABC News has previously reported that presidential candidate Donald TrumpVice President-elect JD Vance, some of Senator Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s staff, one of Trump’s defense attorneys, Todd Blanche, and leaders of two political campaigns were targeted.
Intelligence officials on Tuesday acknowledged that they cannot say with certainty that they have completely kicked the Chinese hackers out of these telecommunications networks and acknowledged that they are still trying to understand the scope of this activity.
While multiple sources have warned that the scope and scale of the operation continues to expand, an official told ABC News that it is not over.
The investigation revealed that China’s campaign exploited US computer routers serving telecommunications corporations, providing a gateway to the phone numbers of large numbers of Verizon ( AT ) customers.&T, Lumen Technologies and other telecom companies.
ABC News previously reported that the operation went undetected for months, and possibly more than a year.
A recent statement by FBI and Homeland Security officials also revealed that China had access to some data on sensitive warrants being sought by the Justice Department, with sources telling ABC News that China is afraid of using the data to clear up some. of individuals who are being investigated and, in some cases, monitored by federal authorities.
Much of Tuesday’s speech focused on Chinese hackers exploiting fundamental security flaws to compromise the system and confirmed that federal authorities have given industry leaders a list of remedies to detect and prevent ongoing attacks, as well as recommendations on how to root out hackers. .
