FBI official says every American likely impacted by Chinese cyberattack
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A former FBI official claims that probably every American has been affected by a Chinese state-sponsored cyberattack.
International law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and the National Security Agency, issued a release. joint consultancy In September, he warned the public that CCP-sponsored actors were “targeting” many aspects of American life, including telecommunications, government, transportation, hospitality, and military infrastructure networks.
According to the consultant, the cyber attack was not limited to the United States only and targeted many countries around the world. According to international organizations, three Chinese companies believed to be behind Typhoon Salt work for Chinese intelligence services, including units of the People’s Liberation Army and the Ministry of State Security.
Through information gathered during cyberattacks, Chinese intelligence services are able to “identify and monitor their targets’ communications and movements around the world.”
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The cyber attack affected many countries around the world. (Getty Images)
said Cynthia Kaiser, a former senior official in the FBI’s cyber division. New York Times It is difficult to imagine a scenario in which any Americans remain unaffected by the attack.
“Given the breadth of the campaign, I can’t imagine any Americans being spared,” he said.
According to the FBI, those directly affected by the cyberattack include senior US government officials and prominent political figures whose communications were accessed.
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The national flags of the United States and China fly at the Fairmont Peace Hotel in Shanghai, China, on April 25, 2024. (Wang Gang/VCG via Getty Images)
Pete Nicoletti, Check Point’s chief information security officer, told Fox News Digital that those behind the Salt Typhoon cyberattack had unprecedented access to phone calls made by Americans.
“They had full jurisdictional access,” Nicoletti said. “So, you know, your grandmother’s call to remind you to pick up the groceries wasn’t a targeted person, and they’re going to listen to that call. But Trump, Vance, Kamala Harris and dozens of other U.S. government officials were specifically targeted.”
Salt Typhoon hackers “established a foothold and leaked data for five years,” which was “almost unprecedented,” Nicoletti said.
But the cybersecurity expert says his biggest concern is not what Salt Typhoon might target in the future, but whether the group will remain entrenched within companies and agencies that still haven’t discovered the attack.
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Chinese military personnel go to the field to participate in the Golden Dragon military exercise in Svay Chok village of Kampong Chhnang province in northern Phnom Penh Cambodia on Thursday, May 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
“My biggest concern is that they are still in various organizations and have not been identified,” he said. “So what I’m worried about isn’t the next time these guys hack someone, it’s what they’re doing now and who they’re into.”
Discussing the December 2024 cyberattack, then-deputy national security adviser Anne Neuberger said hackers tried to identify the owners of various devices, then snooped on phone calls and text messages to see if they were “government targets of interest.”
Fox News Digital’s Landon Mion contributed to this report.
