On Tuesday, U.S. government officials revealed that a group of hackers known as Salt Typhoon, which is believed to be backed by China, is still inside the computer systems of some of America’s biggest phone and internet providers. This situation is concerning because it has been weeks since this ongoing hacking issue first came to light.
The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, or CISA for short, mentioned that the companies involved, like AT&T, Verizon, and Lumen (which used to be called CenturyLink), are actively working to remove the hackers from their networks. However, it’s proving to be a challenging task for these companies. One of the reasons for this difficulty is that the cybersecurity experts are not entirely sure what the hackers ultimately want to achieve.
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The news about Salt Typhoon first surfaced in October, indicating that they had made their way into the systems of these major telecom companies. T-Mobile also reported that they faced attacks from this group, but they managed to repel the hackers to a significant extent. It is speculated that this widespread hacking activity could be part of China’s efforts to spy on the United States. Evidence has shown that the hackers were targeting the communications of U.S. officials and important American figures, including people running for president. They may also have accessed wiretap systems, which could potentially help them find out who Chinese citizens in the U.S. are under surveillance.
In response to this situation, the U.S. government has provided advice to telecom companies on how to strengthen their networks and protect against these China-linked hackers. They emphasized that the approach each company takes to fix their security will be different, depending on their specific circumstances.
