Republican South Dakota Sen. Mike Rounds warned Friday that Chinese state-run hackers known as Salt Typhoon are gaining the ability to spy on millions of Americans through their cellphones.
Monaka event Speaking at Halifax The Forum, Mr. Lowndes revealed that hackers have infiltrated every major telecommunications company in the United States. These hackers have infiltrated every major telecommunications provider in the country, Rounds said. He also said that the Chinese Communist Party government can read texts and listen to conversations.
“Each of us, and all of us today, know that any cell phone conversation you have with someone in the United States is subject to investigation by the Chinese Communist government, because they have access to all of our major telecommunications companies. They're in. They can read your texts, they can listen to your conversations,'' said Rounds. “The only question is whose opinion you want to hear and whose opinion you don’t want to hear.”
Salt Typhoon, a group identified as a Chinese hacker group, has infiltrated the networks of AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile, according to Washington Post's Democratic Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. It is said that its existence still remains. reported. Warner called the breach “the worst communications hack ever in our nation's history.”
The breach has been going on for more than a year and has affected telecom giants like AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile. WaPo said the hackers also accessed law enforcement wiretap request logs to reveal the targets of the investigation, but the wiretap system itself remains intact. The breach reportedly targeted communications involving former President Donald Trump, Vice President-elect J.D. Vance, and White House officials.
Despite the FBI's intervention, hackers are still lurking in America's communications infrastructure, according to WaPo. Warner explained that eliminating them would require a major overhaul, including the physical replacement of thousands of routers and switches across the affected networks.
“This is an ongoing effort by China to penetrate communications systems around the world and steal vast amounts of data,” Warner said. (Related: America's top hacker discovers vulnerabilities in voting machines – but it may be too late)
The group exploited outdated infrastructure and reliability between networks to enable real-time eavesdropping and data exfiltration, the media reported. Although fewer than 150 individuals were directly targeted, the scope of the compromised data spanned millions of associated contacts.
The Biden administration is calling for stronger cybersecurity measures to counter China's persistent aggression.
“We have to lock the digital door,” said Vice Presidential Security Adviser Ann Neuberger.
National security officials, including Trump appointees, have vowed to increase their focus on combating cyber threats.
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