A massive Chinese hacking operation, one of the most significant intelligence breaches in U.S. history, has targeted dozens of nations, according to senior White House officials. Dubbed “Salt Typhoon,” the campaign reportedly compromised major U.S. telecommunications companies, including AT&T, Verizon, and Lumen Technologies.
The White House has urged Americans to adopt encrypted messaging apps, like Signal and WhatsApp, to safeguard their communications. Despite the scale of the attack, Anne Neuberger, Deputy National Security Advisor for Cyber and Emerging Technology, reassured the public that classified communications do not appear to have been compromised. However, she emphasized the potential impact, noting, “We believe it’s potentially a large number of individuals that the Chinese government was focused on.”
Jeff Greene, Executive Assistant Director for Cybersecurity at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, described the compromise as so extensive that authorities could not predict how long it would take to fully address the issue. Another senior U.S. official highlighted the risks of “ongoing compromise” given China’s extensive access to U.S. telecommunications networks.
The breach allowed hackers to extract three key types of data, according to the FBI. These include call records, particularly those linked to the Washington, D.C., area, live phone calls of specific targets, and systems used by law enforcement and intelligence agencies to monitor communications. Both Donald Trump’s and Kamala Harris’ presidential campaigns were reportedly alerted by the FBI that they had been targets of the breach.
China has denied the accusations, with Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington, calling the allegations baseless and accusing the U.S. of conducting its cyberattacks on other countries.
The Biden administration has prioritized addressing the breach, with President Joe Biden receiving multiple briefings on the matter. In the wake of this attack, privacy advocates have reiterated the importance of end-to-end encrypted messaging platforms to protect sensitive information from unauthorized access.