The Salt Storm cyberattack allegedly focused US wiretap techniques that monitor conversations surreptitiously. Apparently, the government-linked Chinese language group wished to entry info that telecommunication corporations gather for the US authorities.
It has solely now come to gentle that T-Cell was additionally a sufferer. Hackers backed by a Chinese language intelligence company efficiently focused T-Cell throughout a monthslong operation to snoop on the cellphone communications of high-value intelligence targets.
It is not clear what knowledge was taken within the breach and it hasn’t been confirmed if the hackers have been in a position to attain name and communications data of T-Cell prospects. A T-Cell spokeswoman mentioned that the assault didn’t considerably affect the corporate.
“T-Cell is carefully monitoring this industry-wide assault, and at the moment, T-Cell techniques and knowledge haven’t been impacted in any vital means, and we have now no proof of impacts to buyer info. We are going to proceed to watch this carefully, working with {industry} friends and the related authorities.”
T-Cell spokeswoman, November 2024
Salt Storm reportedly exploited vulnerabilities equivalent to router and swap flaws to penetrate telecom infrastructure and is believed to have utilized synthetic intelligence and machine studying to boost the operations. It was in a position to preserve its entry to components of the infrastructure for eight months or longer.
As a part of the broader marketing campaign, the cybercriminals accessed cellphone traces utilized by top-ranking authorities officers and politicians. The entry allowed them to view name logs, unencrypted textual content messages and a few audio from victims. Because of this the hacker group was capable of finding out who somebody talked to and when, the frequency of contacts, and presumably location knowledge.
Apparently, the hackers had the power to entry knowledge on any US citizen however they in all probability solely went after counterintelligence targets.
The China-led hacking marketing campaign highlights how legally mandated again doorways might give cybercriminals entry factors into crucial techniques. It additionally exhibits that American telecom corporations are extremely weak to assaults.
