China’s Salt Typhoon cyberspies hoovered up information belonging to millions of people in the United States over the course of the years-long intrusion into telecommunications networks, according to a top FBI cyber official.
“There’s a good chance this espionage campaign has stolen information from nearly every American,” Michael Machtinger, deputy assistant director for the FBI’s cyber division, told The Register.
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The Beijing-backed spying campaign began at least in 2019 but wasn’t uncovered by US authorities until last fall. On Wednesday, US law enforcement and intelligence agencies along with those from 12 other countries warned the ongoing espionage activity expanded far beyond nine American telcos and government networks. According to Machtinger, at least 80 countries were hit by the digital intrusions.
Around 200 American organizations were compromised by the espionage activity, Machtinger said, including the previously disclosed telecommunications firms such as Verizon and AT&T.
Yesterday’s joint security alert also pointed the allies’ collective finger at three China-based entities affiliated with Salt Typhoon: Sichuan Juxinhe Network Technology, Beijing Huanyu Tianqiong Information Technology, and Sichuan Zhixin Ruijie Network Technology. These companies, and likely others, provide cyber products and services to China’s Ministry of State Security and People’s Liberation Army, the governments said.
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This indiscriminate targeting, as the FBI and White House security officials have previously noted, allowed Beijing’s snoops to geo-locate millions of mobile phone users, monitor their internet traffic, and, in some cases, record their phone calls. Victims reportedly included President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance.
Machtinger declined to confirm whether Trump and Vance were among those surveilled, but did say that victims included more than 100 current and former presidential administration officials.
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Source: FBI cyber cop: Salt Typhoon pwned ‘nearly every American’ • The Register
It’s quite telling that you only have to breach 200 organisations to gain information on 350 million Americans.
Robin Edgar
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