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Biden administration officials said this month that at least
eight telecommunications companies, as well as dozens of
nations, had been affected by the Chinese hacking blitz known as
Salt Typhoon.
But deputy national security adviser Anne Neuberger told
reporters Friday that a ninth victim had been identified after
the administration released guidance to companies about how to
hunt for Chinese culprits in their networks.
The update from Neuberger 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 China's hacking sophistication.
The hackers compromised the networks of telecommunications
companies to obtain customer call records and gain access to the
private communications of what officials have said is a a
limited number of individuals. Though the FBI has not publicly
identified any of the victims, officials believe senior U.S.
government officials and prominent political figures are among
those whose whose communications were accessed.
Neuberger said Friday that officials did not yet have a precise
sense how many Americans overall were affected by Salt Typhoon,
in part because the Chinese were careful about their techniques,
but that a “large number" were in the Washington-Virginia area.
Officials believe the goal of the hackers was to identify who
owned the phones and, if they were “government targets of
interest,” spy on their texts and phone calls, she said.
The FBI said most of the people targeted by the hackers are
"primarily involved in government or political activity.”
Neuberger said the episode highlighted the need for required
cybersecurity practices in the telecommunications industry,
something the Federal Communications Commission is to take up at
a meeting next month. In addition, she said, the government was
planning additional actions in coming weeks in response to the
hacking campaign, though she did not say what they were.
“We know that voluntary cyber security practices are inadequate
to protect against China, Russia and Iran hacking of our
critical infrastructure,” she said.
The Chinese government has denied responsibility for the
hacking.
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