According to the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), a Chinese-backed hacking group called Salt Typhoon has already infiltrated the systems of at least 200 American companies. It was previously known that they had targeted 9 US telecommunications and internet providers.
FBI Deputy Director for Cybersecurity Brett Letterman told The Washington Post that the hackers had penetrated companies not only in the US but also in 80 countries. This is the first time that the global scale of China's cyber espionage campaign has been revealed.
Although their names were not disclosed, companies such as AT&T, Verizon, Lumen, Charter Communications and Windstream have previously been confirmed as among the victims.
The hackers' main target was the call records of US officials. In this way, they determined who politicians were communicating with and which individuals the US government was tracking with legal requests. The threat has grown so much that the FBI has for some time recommended that Americans switch to encrypted messaging apps.
The FBI and about 20 international agencies released a joint statement on Wednesday saying that Salt Typhoon is primarily targeting corporate routers, capturing sensitive information through network traffic. The guidance also shared technical tips for detecting the attack.
FBI official Leatherman said the threat posed by hackers continues.
