The campaign spanned across a year as the hacker group exploited vulnerabilities in U.S. telecom networks and gained access to the metadata of a large number of American users. This metadata includes communication logs, pieces of text messages and even bits of audio from voice calls.
Officials say that the group — officially known as Salt Typhoon — specifically targeted government officials and politicians. President elect Donald Trump and vice president elect JD Vance were prime targets for the group. U.S. officials also say that Salt Typhoon is still inside telecom networks and it’s difficult to ascertain when they will be fully evicted.
The U.S. claims that this attack is a direct assault funded by the Chinese government. Chinese officials have dismissed the claim and condemned the cyber invasion. Other countries are now also taking action and educating their telecom engineers about how to spot Salt Typhoon incursions.
T-Mobile claims it was not affected by the attack. | Image credit — The New York Times
Officials have previously said that the attackers kept changing their strategies whenever the media was told what U.S. security personnel knew. So it’s very likely that the ninth company’s name isn’t being provided so officials can keep the upper hand over the hackers.
This attack is one of the largest to have occurred in recent times and is an important reminder of how technology is never truly safe from malicious individuals.
