China's deepening telecoms hack sparks DHS probe
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U.S. government officials and staff on both major presidential campaigns were targeted. One former intelligence official called the breaches “really concerning.”
A key cybersecurity review panel will investigate a Chinese infiltration into U.S. telecom networks and affiliated wiretap infrastructure, the Department of Homeland Security said Sunday, escalating a federal probe into breaches that have targeted government officials and presidential campaign staff.
The Cyber Safety Review Board, established by the Biden administration in 2022 to find the causes of major cybersecurity events, “will initiate a review of this incident at the appropriate time,” a DHS spokesperson said in an email. The Wall Street Journal first reported the panel’s decision.
It’s not clear when the probe would start, but it would likely take months before public findings from the analysis are released. The Chinese state-backed hacking collective, dubbed Salt Typhoon, penetrated the networks of AT&T, Verizon, Lumen and around 10 others, and for months was likely inside systems that facilitate court-authorized wiretap requests, according to reports that first surfaced last month.
The network of affected individuals has expanded since U.S. investigators began scrutinizing the incident just weeks ago. The hackers have attempted to access the phone communications of presidential campaign officials, including former president Donald Trump and running mate Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, the New York Times reported Friday.
The hackers have also hoovered up audio communications from U.S. political figures, including a Trump campaign advisor, the Washington Post reported Sunday. Salt Typhoon also had access to victims’ unencrypted messages, added the report, which cited people familiar with the matter. At least one U.S. official was notified that hackers had accessed their personal phone.
The targeting was bipartisan in nature. Staff of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and staff on Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign were also hit.
“Agencies across the U.S. government are collaborating to aggressively mitigate this threat and are coordinating with our industry partners to strengthen cyber defenses across the commercial communications sector,” the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said Friday.