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Initial reports that China hacked into “the networks of several large US-based Internet service providers” have been updated. They “may have gained access to systems used for court-authorized wiretaps of communications networks.” That’s not a good thing. Even worse, the experts have no idea what the Chinese did while they were inside.
China penetrates ISPs
Cybercriminals associated with China “penetrated the networks of several large US-based Internet service providers,” apparently after some interesting information. It seems they probably “gained access to systems used for court-authorized wiretaps.”
Insiders leaked that “hackers breached the networks of companies including Verizon, AT&T, and Lumen.” That last one’s also known as “CenturyLink.”
As reported first by the Wall Street Journal, “a cyberattack tied to the Chinese government penetrated the networks of a swath of U.S. broadband providers, potentially accessing information from systems the federal government uses for court-authorized network wiretapping requests.”
China may have had unrestricted access for quite a while.
“For months or longer, the hackers might have held access to network infrastructure used to cooperate with lawful U.S. requests for communications data.” There are several things China could be fishing for in there.
Experts have already confirmed that the “attackers also had access to other tranches of more generic Internet traffic.” None of what was exposed is good for national security.
Audacious espionage
The “audacious espionage operation” has the fingerprints of Salt Typhoon all over it. The insiders believe China was hoping to find out who of their spies and officials are “targets of American surveillance.”
Another thing they might be after is the information recorded from reporters and journalists under surveillance. Some of whom have been writing things critical of both the Chinese government and the U.S. government, which is why they’re under surveillance.
Washington Post picked up the story with information from “U.S. government officials” who told them the investigation involves “the FBI, other intelligence agencies, and the Department of Homeland Security.”
Also, it’s only in the early stages. China released a statement through their Ministry of State Security denying any involvement but that’s exactly the ministry who the feds think are behind the breach.
Unconfirmed reports claim that Verizon “set up a war room at its facility in Ashburn, Virginia.” They’re digging into what China compromised and how extensive the threat really is. They’re working closely with “personnel from the FBI, Microsoft, and Google subsidiary Mandiant.”
Considering the confidential nature of the targeted systems, there’s probably not much more that will be made available to the public but we’ll watch to see if anything develops.
