Chinese cyberspies have been found to have recorded telephone conversations of high-ranking American politicians, as reported by Ann Neuberger, deputy adviser to the US president for cybersecurity issues and new technologies.
Neuberger revealed that the Salt Typhoon operation, focused on collecting intelligence information, specifically targeted politicians. The spies particularly concentrated on telephone negotiations, but the specific targets were not disclosed.
Earlier, Neuberger confirmed that the Salt Typhoon campaign compromised several American telecommunication companies and organizations in numerous countries. The hackers primarily targeted key government officials and corporate data of intellectual value.
Furthermore, the FBI and CISA representatives reported that Chinese hackers managed to steal a significant amount of metadata and a limited volume of personal communications, such as calls and text messages. The main victims were individuals linked to state and political processes.
In addition, Salt Typhoon spies were able to access data interception methods used by law enforcement agencies, although this was not the primary focus of the campaign. The FBI representative mentioned that the campaign’s goal was originally broader.
In November, leaders of major American telecommunication companies gathered at the White House to address the extensive penetration of Chinese hackers into communication systems. The Salt Typhoon group remained undetected within the networks of top telecommunication firms in the US for nearly a year.
The Salt Typhoon (also known as GhosteMperor and FamouSSPARROW) has been operational since 2020, specializing in data and intelligence theft, particularly the interception of internet traffic. The majority of their targets are in North America and Southeast Asia. Other Chinese hacker groups, such as Flax Typhoon and Volt Typhoon, have also attempted to breach the critical infrastructure of the US and were preparing for potential cyber attacks.