Chinese state-backed threat operation Salt Typhoon was noted by officials at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the FBI to have persistent access to the systems of U.S. telecommunications firms that have been compromised to target the campaigns of President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, reports The Record, a news site by cybersecurity firm Recorded Future.
"We cannot say with certainty that the adversary has been evicted, because we're still understanding the scope," noted a senior official, who expressed uncertainty on the expulsion of Chinese hackers from the breached networks. Additional details regarding the extent of the intrusion, which is believed to have resulted in the exfiltration of a trove of phone call and text message metadata, were not provided but another official noted the need for a "long-term" strategy for strengthening network security. Such a development comes as CISA, FBI, the National Security Agency, and their Canadian, Australian, and New Zealand counterparts, urged increased network visibility and hardening in the telecommunications sector.
