Investigation into Chinese hacking reveals ‘broad and significant’ espionage efforts, FBI says

WASHINGTON – A federal investigation into Chinese government attempts to hack US telecommunications networks have a “broad and significant” cyber espionage campaign aimed at stealing information from Americans who work in government and politics, the FBI said Wednesday.

Hackers affiliated with Beijing compromised the networks of “multiple” telecommunications companies to obtain customer call records and access the private communications of “a limited number of individuals,” according to a joint statement from the FBI and federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure. Security agency.

The FBI did not identify any of the individuals targeted by the hackers, but said most of them are “primarily involved in government or political activities.”

The hackers also attempted “to copy certain information that was subject to U.S. law enforcement requests pursuant to court orders,” the FBI said, suggesting the hackers may have attempted to compromise programs such as those subject to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA. which gives U.S. spy agencies sweeping powers to monitor the communications of individuals suspected of being agents of a foreign power.”

The warning comes after several high-profile hacking incidents that US authorities have linked to China. Part of what they say is an attempt to steal technological and government information while targeting vital infrastructure like the power grid.

In September, the FBI announced that this was the case disrupted a massive Chinese hacking operation known as Flax Typhoon, which installed malicious software on more than 200,000 consumer devices, including home and office cameras, video recorders and routers. The devices were then used to create a massive network of infected computers, or botnets, which could then be used to carry out other cybercrimes.

Last month, officials said hackers had ties to China focused on the phones of then-presidential candidate Donald Trump and his running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance, along with people associated with Democratic vice-presidential nominee Kamala Harris.

Authorities have not disclosed how or whether the operations announced on Wednesday are related to the previous campaigns.

In their statement Wednesday, the FBI and CISA said officials are working with the telecommunications industry and hacking victims to strengthen defenses against ongoing cyber espionage attempts.

“We expect that our understanding of these tradeoffs will grow as the investigation continues,” the agencies wrote.

China has rejected accusations from US officials that it is engaged in cyber espionage targeting Americans. A message left at the Chinese embassy in Washington was not immediately returned Wednesday.