FBI cyber cop: Salt Typhoon pwned 'nearly every American'

Summary

China's Salt Typhoon cyberspies hoovered up information belonging to millions of people in the United States over the course of the years-long intrusion into telecommunications networks, according to a top FBI cyber official. "There's a good chance this espionage campaign has stolen information from nearly every American," Michael Machtinger, deputy assistant director for the FBI's cyber division, told The Register. "There's a thought among the public that if you don't work in a sensitive area that the PRC might be interested in for its traditional espionage activities, then you are safe, they will not target you," he said, during a Thursday interview with The Register. "As we have seen from Salt Typhoon, this is no longer an assumption that anyone can afford to make." The Beijing-backed spying campaign began at least in 2019 but wasn't uncovered by US authorities until last fall. On Wednesday, US law enforcement and intelligence agencies along with those from 12 other countries warned the ongoing espionage activity expanded far beyond nine American telcos and government networks. According to Machtinger, at least 80 countries were hit by the digital intrusions. Around 200 American organizations were compromised by the espionage activity, Machtinger said, including the previously disclosed telecommunications firms such as Verizon and AT&T. Yesterday's joint security alert also pointed the allies' collective finger at three China-based entities affiliated with Salt Typhoon: Sichuan Juxinhe Network Technology, Beijing Huanyu Tianqiong Information Technology, and Sichuan Zhixin Ruijie Network Technology. These companies, and likely others, provide cyber products and services to China's Ministry of State Security and People's Liberation Army, the governments said. What the PRC is doing through these proxy actors is really reckless and unbounded, in a way that is significantly outside of the norms of what we see in the espionage space "This is one of the most consequenti...