U.S. Authorities Reveal Chinese Hackers Stole Data From American Telecom Companies

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) shared a joint statement yesterday to inform about a cyber espionage campaign performed by the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and addressed to commercial telecommunications infrastructure in the United States.

“We have identified that PRC-affiliated actors have compromised networks at multiple telecommunications companies to enable the theft of customer call records data,” states the document, “the compromise of private communications of a limited number of individuals who are primarily involved in government or political activity, and the copying of certain information that was subject to U.S. law enforcement requests pursuant to court orders.”

American authorities made a call for victims and stakeholders to consider the situation and share information, and promised to help and share more updates after more developments.

According to Reuters, this announcement confirms what the media had previously shared. The Wall Street Journal reported it in October and said companies like Verizon, AT&T, and Lumen Technologies were affected. At that moment, the Chinese government denied its involvement and said it was an attempt to accuse and frame its regime.

Other media outlets said multiple politicians including JD Vance and recently elected candidate Donald Trump’s phones had been intercepted. Authorities are studying the attack and analyzing the causes of this major security breach.

The United States has not been the only nation affected by Chinese-led operations in the past few months. In July, Australia and cybersecurity agencies from multiple countries like Canada, the United Kingdom, and Germany accused the Chinese government of targeting and spying on organizations in their countries.

A few weeks ago, Chinese criminals deployed ToxicPanda malware and hit bank accounts across Latin America and Europe.