Chinese hack of US telecoms compromised more firms than previously known: Report

A cybersecurity expert monitors telecommunications traffic at a network operations center in a Verizon facility in Ashburn, Virginia

A Chinese hack compromised even more U.S. telecoms than previously known, including Charter Communications, Consolidated Communications and Windstream, the Wall Street Journal reported late on Saturday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Hackers also exploited unpatched network devices from security vendor Fortinet and compromised large network routers from Cisco Systems, the newspaper reported.

In addition to deep intrusions into AT&T and Verizon, hackers pierced other networks belonging to Lumen Technologies and T-Mobile, according to the report.

China denied engaging in such actions and accused the United States of peddling disinformation.

There is growing concern about the size and scope of the reported Chinese hacking into U.S. telecommunications networks and questions about when companies and the government will be able to assure Americans about the issue.

The report added that U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan told telecommunications and technology executives at a secret White House meeting in the fall of 2023 that Chinese hackers had gained the ability to shut down dozens of U.S. ports, power grids and other infrastructure targets at will.

The Chinese-linked Salt Typhoon cyberespionage operation targeted AT&T and Verizon's systems, but the wireless carriers' U.S. networks are now secure as they work with law enforcement and government officials, the companies said last week in their first acknowledgment of the attacks.

Lumen said it no longer sees evidence of the attackers in its network and that no customer data was accessed. T-Mobile said it stopped recent attempts to infiltrate its systems from advancing and protected sensitive customer information from being accessed, according to the Journal.

Verizon told the newspaper that a small number of high-profile customers in government and politics were specifically targeted by a threat actor and that those people had been notified.

Vandana Venkatesh, chief legal officer at Verizon, told the newspaper that "Verizon has contained the activities associated with this particular incident."

Cisco and Fortinet declined to comment to the newspaper.

Targets of Salt Typhoon have previously reportedly included officials connected to Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump's presidential campaigns.