New details continue to emerge about the hacking of U.S. telecommunications companies by a Chinese-linked group that targeted U.S. officials and campaign staff. Now The Wall Street Journal reports that the hackers’ access was even wider than previously reported and that it could have affected the communications of “potentially thousands of Americans.”
Last week, The New York Times reported that FBI investigators suspect that a hacking group known as “Salt Typhoon” gained access to call logs and SMS messages. The group reportedly targeted the phones of diplomats and government officials, as well as people associated with both presidential campaigns.
The WSJ now reports that the hackers, who were “likely” working for Chinese intelligence, spent “eight months or more” in the US telecommunications infrastructure, and that they may have been able to obtain the data of thousands of people who had contact with the targeted individuals.
The magazine confirms previous reports that the hackers “limited their targets to a few dozen select senior political and national security figures.” But the hackers, who reportedly exploited routers used by telecommunications companies, had “the ability to access the phone data of virtually any American who is a customer of the compromised carrier – a group that includes AT&T and Verizon.” Both AT&T and Verizon declined to comment on the report.