Concern Grows Around Salt Typhoon Attack on Telcos

The Salt Typhoon attack, a hacking campaign targeting telecom networks that the FBI has been investigating since earlier this year remains an ongoing threat, according to Deputy national security advisor Anne Neuberger.

Neuberger says eight telecom companies in the U.S. have been affected, and the attacks seem to be targeting high-progile political and government figures, though the full scope is not known. President-elect Donald Trump, VP-elect J.D. Vance, and Vice President Kamala Harris' associates were specifically mentioned as targets by federal officials earlier.

The attacks have given the hackers access to private text mesages and phone calls.

Troublingly, Neuberger says that none of the impacted companies have "fully removed" the Chinese hackers from the networks, though the firms are working on it.

Still many unkowns

"It would be impossible for us to predict when we'll have full eviction," said Jeff Greene of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).

Neuberger's comments came immediately after the FBI, NSA, and CISA released guidance to get the attack under control and to prevent future hacks.

Officials say there are challenges remaining, and that it's difficult to know the entirety of the situation.

"I have confidence that we are on top of it in terms of tracking them down and seeing what's going on, but we cannot, with confidence, say that we know everything," Greene said.

ISE Magazine will continue to report on Salt Typhoon as it realted to telecom networks as developments arise.