Chinese hackers breached telecom backdoors used by the US government to spy on Americans

For years, the US government has required telecom giants like Verizon and AT&T to maintain backdoor access for surveillance purposes. However, it appears a Chinese hacking group, known as Salt Typhoon, has been exploiting these backdoors for months. The main weak link? Cisco routers.

According to an exclusive report from the Wall Street Journal, Chinese hackers infiltrated the networks of U.S. broadband providers and accessed systems used by the government for authorized wiretapping.

“A cyberattack tied to the Chinese government penetrated the networks of a swath of U.S. broadband providers, potentially accessing information from systems the federal government uses for court-authorized network wiretapping requests,” the Wall Street Journal reported.

Verizon, AT&T, and Lumen Technologies are among the companies affected by this breach, with hackers possibly having access to sensitive infrastructure for an extended period. This includes systems the companies use to comply with court-ordered requests for communications data, as well as other internet traffic.

The Journal added, “For months or longer, the hackers might have held access to network infrastructure used to cooperate with lawful U.S. requests for communications data, according to people familiar with the matter, which amounts to a major national security risk. The attackers also had access to other tranches of more generic internet traffic, they said.”

In response, China’s foreign ministry denied any involvement, calling the claims a “false narrative” aimed at framing the country. Lumen Technologies declined to comment, and neither Verizon nor AT&T has responded to requests for a statement.

The hacking group behind this attack, Salt Typhoon, is believed to be gathering intelligence. U.S. investigators have linked this incident to a string of cyber espionage efforts by Chinese groups, including another major hacking campaign dubbed “Volt Typhoon.” Earlier this year, U.S. law enforcement managed to disrupt another operation, “Flax Typhoon,” aimed at similar targets.

In 2020, four Chinese military spies were charged with hacking the credit bureau Equifax. The breach affected more than 145 million Americans with the hackers successfully stealing names, Social Security numbers, and other personal information stored in the company’s databases.