China’s Salt Typhoon cyberspies hoovered up information belonging to millions of people in the United States over the course of the years-long intrusion into telecommunications networks, according to what a top FBI cyber official told The Register:
“There’s a good chance this espionage campaign has stolen information from nearly every American,” Michael Machtinger, deputy assistant director for the FBI’s cyber division, told The Register.
“There’s a thought among the public that if you don’t work in a sensitive area that the PRC might be interested in for its traditional espionage activities, then you are safe, they will not target you,” he said, during a Thursday interview with The Register. “As we have seen from Salt Typhoon, this is no longer an assumption that anyone can afford to make.”
The Beijing-backed spying campaign began at least in 2019 but wasn’t uncovered by US authorities until last fall. On Wednesday, US law enforcement and intelligence agencies along with those from 12 other countries warned the ongoing espionage activity expanded far beyond nine American telcos and government networks. According to Machtinger, at least 80 countries were hit by the digital intrusions.
Around 200 American organizations were compromised by the espionage activity, Machtinger said, including the previously disclosed telecommunications firms such as Verizon and AT&T.
Read more at The Register.
