Chinese hacking campaign hits 9th US telecommunications company, White House says

WASHINGTON (AP) A ninth U.S. telecommunications company has been confirmed to have been hacked as part of a massive Chinese espionage campaign that gave Beijing officials access to private text messages and phone conversations of an unknown number of Americans, a senior White House official said Friday.

Biden administration officials said this month that at least eight telecommunications companies, as well as dozens of countries, were affected by the Chinese hacking blitz known as Salt Typhoon.

WATCH: Chinese hackers have infiltrated at least 8 US telecom companies, White House says

But Deputy National Security Advisor Anne Neuberger told reporters Friday that a ninth victim had been identified after the administration issued guidance to companies on how to search their networks for Chinese culprits.

Neuberger's update is the latest development in a massive hacking operation that has alarmed national security officials, exposed cybersecurity vulnerabilities in the private sector and laid bare the sophistication of China's hacking .

Hackers compromised telecommunications company networks to obtain customer call recordings and access the private communications of what authorities said were a limited number of individuals. Although the FBI has not publicly identified any of the victims, officials believe that senior U.S. government officials and prominent political figures are among those whose communications were accessed.

Neuberger said Friday that officials did not yet have a clear idea of ​​the total number of Americans affected by Typhoon Salt, in part because the Chinese were cautious in their techniques, but that many of them were were in the Washington-Virginia region.

Officials believe the hackers' goal was to identify who owned the phones and, if they were government targets of interest, spy on their text messages and phone calls, she said.

The FBI said most of the people targeted by hackers are “primarily involved in government or political activities.”

Neuberger said the episode highlighted the need for required cybersecurity practices in the telecommunications sector, a topic the Federal Communications Commission is scheduled to address at a meeting next month. In addition, she added, the government was planning additional actions in the coming weeks in response to the hacking campaign, although it did not specify what these were.

We know that voluntary cybersecurity practices are not enough to protect us against hacks of our critical infrastructure by China, Russia and Iran, she said.

The Chinese government has denied any responsibility for the hack.

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