A major cyber attack, originating from China, has been targeting global telecommunications companies, reports Digi24.
The US federal government began investigating the breach in the spring of this year. Officials from the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) announced on Tuesday that the hacking campaign is ongoing and larger than initially thought.
The attack was first publicly revealed in October, and US agencies have attributed it to a Chinese hacker group known as Salt Typhoon.
The group targeted telecommunications companies worldwide, including major US providers, to access political and national security data.
The US government is concerned about the scope of the attack and its potential ongoing nature.
Jeff Greene, deputy executive director for cybersecurity at CISA, said that although the agencies began cooperating in October, the breach was detected earlier in the year.
He mentioned that the hacking group is still active and that the full extent of the damage is unclear.
"We can't say for sure that the opponent has been eliminated," Greene said, adding that they are still tracking the hackers.
The hackers have reportedly compromised about 80 telecommunications companies, including AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile.
On Tuesday, a joint alert was issued by CISA, the FBI, the National Security Agency, and agencies from New Zealand, Australia, and Canada.
They warned that Chinese hackers are targeting global telecom providers, but declined to comment on the specifics.
Notably, the UK did not sign the alert, though they expressed support for international efforts.
The victims of the cyber attack are divided into three groups. The first group consists of individuals in the US "Capital Region" whose call records were stolen.
The second group includes a small number of people with political or government ties, whose private communications were also compromised.
The third group involved US court orders related to telecommunications surveillance.
US lawmakers, particularly Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner, have expressed alarm over what they consider to be one of the worst cyber breaches in US history.
The government is urging Americans to use encrypted communication to protect their data.
