AT&T, a major telecom company, recently experienced a serious network breach perpetrated by hackers linked to China, as reported by the Wall Street Journal. The breach, carried out by a sophisticated group called Salt Typhoon believed to be sponsored by the Chinese state, targeted several US broadband providers including Verizon, AT&T, and Lumen Technologies. This breach extended to wiretap systems, potentially granting hackers access to sensitive information used for court-authorized wiretap requests by the US government.
Salt Typhoon, also known as FamousSparrow and GhostEmperor, has a history of targeting various organizations since 2019, focusing on intelligence gathering and data theft rather than system disruption. In light of these events, Microsoft is investigating the breach, while AT&T faces additional scrutiny due to a reopened case of cryptocurrency theft stemming from a breach involving a SIM card and a 15-year-old hacker. The responsibility of telecom providers to safeguard customer data is underscored by these incidents, and the legal proceedings could set a precedent for future cases involving data protection.
