Chinese hackers have breached US court wiretapping systems, the WSJ reports

Chinese hackers have accessed the networks of U.S. broadband providers and obtained information from systems the federal government uses for court-authorized wiretapping, the Wall Street Journal reported Oct. 5.

Verizon Communications, AT&T and Lumen Technologies are among the telecommunications companies whose networks were breached in the recently discovered breach, the newspaper said, citing people familiar with the matter.

The hackers may have had access for months to network infrastructure used by the companies to cooperate with court-approved U.S. requests for communications data, the paper said. It said the hackers also accessed other parts of the internet traffic.

China’s Foreign Ministry responded on Oct. 6 that it was unaware of the attack described in the report, but said the United States had “concocted a false narrative” in the past to “smear” China.

“At a time when cybersecurity has become a common challenge for all countries around the world, this wrong approach will only hinder the international community’s efforts to address the challenge together through dialogue and collaboration,” the ministry said in a statement told Reuters.

Beijing has previously rejected claims by the U.S. government and others that it used hackers to break into foreign computer systems.

Verizon Communications, AT&T and Lumen Technologies did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Wall Street Journal said the attack was carried out by a Chinese hacking group with the aim of gathering information. U.S. investigators called it “Salt Typhoon.”

In early 2024, U.S. law enforcement agencies dismantled a major Chinese hacking group nicknamed “Flax Typhoon,” months after confronting Beijing over wide-ranging cyber espionage in a campaign dubbed “Volt Typhoon.” REUTERS