WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A Chinese hack has threatened more U.S. telecommunications companies than previously known, including… Charter Communications Consolidated Communications Inc. (Nasdaq:) and Windstream, the Wall Street Journal reported late Saturday, citing people familiar with the matter.
Hackers also exploited unpatched network devices from the security vendor Fortnite The company's (NASDAQ:) and large network routers from Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:) were compromised, the newspaper reported.
In addition to deep intrusions into AT&T (NYSE:) and Verizon (NYSE:), hackers breached other networks belonging to Lumen Technologies and T-Mobile, according to the report.
China denied involvement in such actions and accused the United States of promoting disinformation.
There is growing concern about the scale and scope of China's reported hacking of US communications networks, and questions about when companies and the government will be able to reassure Americans about the issue.
The report added that US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told communications and technology executives in a secret White House meeting in the fall of 2023 that Chinese hackers had gained the ability to shut down dozens of US ports, power grids and other infrastructure targets at will.
The China-linked Salt Typhoon cyberespionage operation targeted AT&T and Verizon systems, but the wireless carriers' U.S. networks are now secure as they work with law enforcement and government officials, the companies said last week in their first acknowledgment of the attacks.
Lumen said it no longer saw evidence of the attackers' presence in its network and customer data had not been accessed. T-Mobile said it stopped recent attempts to hack its systems from developing and protected sensitive customer information from being accessed, according to the newspaper.
Verizon told the newspaper that a small number of high-profile customers in government and politics had been specifically targeted by a threat actor and that those people had been notified.
“Verizon has been monitoring activities related to this particular incident,” Vandana Venkatesh, Verizon’s chief legal officer, told the newspaper.
Cisco and Fortinet declined to comment to the newspaper.
Targets of Hurricane Salt have previously reportedly included officials linked to the presidential campaigns of Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump.
