Primary U.S. telecom corporations AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. have confirmed being targeted by the China-associated hacking group referred to as Salt Typhoon. Both firms have affirmed that their systems are now secure and shielded from any further intrusion.
AT&T, headquartered in Dallas, disclosed in a statement issued on Saturday that the hackers made an effort to gain access to data linked to foreign intelligence. Similarly, Verizon, based in New York City, revealed that the attackers aimed at “a limited number of prominent clients in government and political circles.”
“There has been no sign of threat actor activity in Verizon’s system for a while now,” stated Vandana Venkatesh, Chief Legal Officer at Verizon. He added that Verizon has successfully contained the activities related to this specific incident after substantial efforts to address it. Verizon also mentioned that an external cybersecurity company has confirmed the neutralization of the threat.
Both telecom giants have affirmed their cooperation with authorities and have informed those who may have had their data compromised.
“As of now, we have not detected any activity by nation-state actors in our networks,” a spokesperson from AT&T mentioned in the announcement.
Allegedly linked to the People’s Republic of China, the hackers focused on a small group of persons associated with foreign intelligence, as per the company. AT&T further stated that notifications to impacted parties have been sent out, jointly coordinated with law enforcement.
First reported in October, the Salt Typhoon cyberattack gained attention when The Wall Street Journal revealed that multiple telecom carriers, including AT&T and Verizon, were compromised.
Suspected of infiltrating systems employed by the federal government for court-approved wiretap requests, the hackers are under scrutiny.
Since then, scant information about the breach has surfaced, but T-Mobile USA Inc. said it noticed suspicious behavior on network-level routers reminiscent of Salt Typhoon’s strategies. The company affirmed that it successfully repelled the intruders before any customer data was accessed.
The White House confirmed on Friday that the Salt Typhoon intrusion impacted nine telecom firms. While U.S. officials refrained from naming the affected carriers, industry specialists have underscored the scale of the breach.
The Biden administration recently held a confidential meeting with telecom industry executives, including AT&T’s CEO John Stankey, to address insecurities in the sector.
Authorities have acknowledged uncertainty regarding the complete extent of the attack, including the number of Americans affected, cautioning that eradicating the threat entirely may be time-consuming.
China has persistently denied any involvement in the breaches. Nonetheless, security experts attribute the breach to Salt Typhoon, a sophisticated cyber-espionage endeavor identified by Microsoft’s threat investigators.
This incident raises apprehensions about the security of critical communication infrastructures in the U.S. and underscores the necessity for enhanced collaboration between the public and private sectors.
The article China-Linked Salt Typhoon Hackers Launched Cyber Attack on AT&T and Verizon was originally published on Cyber Security News.