By South China Morning Post | Created at 2024-12-29 05:34:16 | Updated at 2024-12-30 23:39:10
1 day ago
The Chinese-linked Salt Typhoon cyberespionage operation targeted AT&T’s systems, but the wireless carrier’s US networks are now secure as it works with law enforcement and government officials, the company said on Saturday in its first acknowledgement 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 continued to work with authorities to assess and mitigate the threat, the spokesperson said.
On Friday, US officials added a ninth unnamed telecoms 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 US Department of Defence 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, AT&T, Lumen, and other telecoms companies, and stole telephone audio intercepts along with a large swathe of call record data.
