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CNN
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U.S. authorities are still trying to help major telecom providers remove Chinese government-backed hackers from their networks, but there is no timeline yet for when that will be completed, officials said Tuesday. revealed.
“We still don’t know how deep it went and where it went, so until we know the full picture, we don’t know how to launch an attack,” said Jeff Green, a senior official at the U.S. Cybersecurity Agency. It’s difficult to know exactly.” The Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) told reporters.
“Most (communications) providers are still working to uncover the full scope of Chinese government activities,” the FBI official added, using the Chinese government’s acronym.
CNN previously reported that the suspected Chinese hackers targeted phone communications of US political figures, including President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect J.D. Vance. The hacking campaign has disrupted Washington and is already shaping up to be the biggest national security challenge facing the incoming Trump administration.
FBI and CISA officials say telecom companies that have worked with federal authorities the longest are the ones that have made the most progress in eliminating hackers. Verizon and AT&T are among the major carriers targeted by hackers, CNN previously reported.
The FBI began investigating China’s hacking efforts in late spring and early summer of this year, a senior FBI official said in the agency’s most detailed update yet on the espionage effort.
The hackers stole large amounts of phone records showing where, when and with whom people communicated, but not the content of the calls or text messages, a senior FBI official said. The hackers were able to intercept phone calls and text data for a “limited number” of U.S. government and political officials, the official added.
The hackers also “copied certain information that was subject to court-ordered U.S. law enforcement requests,” a senior FBI official said. But portals within telecommunications providers that allow law enforcement to conduct court-ordered wiretaps were not the hackers’ primary focus, officials said.
“China launched this campaign with broader objectives,” the official continued. “National security and law enforcement eavesdropping is just one of several targets these attackers collect once they penetrate a network.”
This story has been updated with additional information.
