By Surbhi Misra
(Reuters) – A Chinese operation linked to Typhoon cyberespionage targeted AT&T (NYSE: ) systems, but the U.S. wireless network is now safe as it works with law enforcement and government officials, the company said on Saturday in its first admission. of attacks.
“We are not seeing any activity by state-owned actors on our network at this time. Based on our current investigation into this attack, the Republic of China is targeting a small number of people who are interested in foreign espionage,” said an AT&T spokesperson.
While only a few instances of compromised data have been identified, AT&T was monitoring and modifying its networks to protect customer data, and continues to work with authorities to evaluate and mitigate the threat, the spokesperson said.
On Friday, US officials added a ninth unnamed company to the list of entities compromised by the Salt Lake hackers and said the Chinese involved had access to the network and essentially had broad and full access, giving them the power to “find millions of people. record calls at will.”
The US Department of Defense and the Federal Communications Commission did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment outside regular hours. China's foreign ministry could not immediately be reached for comment.
Officials previously accused of hackers targeted Verizon (NYSE:), AT&T, Lumen and other telecom companies, and stole phone audio intercepts and large call log data.
In response to that cyberattack, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency on Dec. 18 urged top government and political figures to move mobile communications to the end of hidden apps.
Targets of Typhoon Salt are said to include officials connected to Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump's presidential campaigns.
Chinese officials previously described the allegations as disinformation and said Beijing “firmly opposes and fights against cyber attacks and cyber theft in all forms.”
There is growing concern about the extent and scope of Chinese surveillance of US telecommunications networks and questions about when companies and the government will be able to reassure Americans on the matter.