Chinese Salt Typhoon cyberespionage targets AT&T, but networks secure, carrier says

By Surbhi Misra

(Reuters) – The Chinese-linked Salt Typhoon cyberespionage operation targeted AT&T (NYSE:)’s systems, but the wireless carrier’s U.S. networks are now secure as it works with law enforcement and government officials, the company said on Saturday in its first acknowledgment of the attacks.

“We detect no activity by nation-state actors in our networks at this time. Based on our current investigation of this attack, the People’s Republic of China targeted a small number of individuals of foreign intelligence interest,” an AT&T spokesperson said.

While only a few cases of compromised information were identified, AT&T was monitoring and remediating its networks to protect customers data, and continues to work with authorities to assess and mitigate the threat, the spokesperson said.

On Friday, U.S. officials added a ninth unnamed telecom company to the list of entities compromised by the Salt Typhoon hackers and said the Chinese involved gained access to networks and essentially had broad and full access, giving them the capability to “geolocate millions of individuals, to record phone calls at will.”

The U.S. 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 contacted for comment.

Officials previously alleged hackers targeted Verizon (NYSE:), AT&T, Lumen and other telecom companies, and stole telephone audio intercepts along with a large swath of call record data.

In response to that cyberattack, the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency on Dec. 18 urged senior government and political figures to move mobile communications to end-to-end encrypted apps.

Targets of Salt Typhoon reportedly included officials connected to Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump’s presidential campaigns.

Chinese officials have previously described the allegations as disinformation and have said Beijing “firmly opposes and combats cyber attacks and cyber theft in all forms.”

There is growing concern about the size and scope of the reported Chinese hacking into U.S. telecommunications networks and questions about when companies and the government will be able to assure Americans about the issue.