Chinese targeting of US telecoms involved extensive data compromise

U.S. telecommunications firms were confirmed by the FBI and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to have had customer call records, private communications of a few individuals, most of whom are in the government, and sensitive information that require law enforcement requests to have been exfiltrated by Chinese state-sponsored threat actors as part of a sweeping cyberespionage campaign, reports The Record, a news site by cybersecurity firm Recorded Future. Additional details regarding the campaign which was initially reported by the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and Politico to have been conducted by Salt Typhoon operation to target the campaigns of President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are expected to emerge amid ongoing investigation, said the FBI and CISA in a joint advisory. Such an attack should prompt federal action against negligent organizations to bolster cyberattack defense, noted Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., in a letter to Federal Communications Commission Chair Jessica Rosenworcel and Justice Department Attorney General Merrick Garland. "The security of our nation's communications infrastructure is paramount, and the government must act now to rectify these longstanding vulnerabilities," Wyden wrote.