WASHINGTON, Dec 4 (Reuters) – A large number of Americans’ metadata has been stolen in the sweeping cyberespionage campaign carried out by a Chinese hacking group dubbed “Salt Typhoon,” a senior U.S. official told journalists on Wednesday.
\nThe official declined to provide specific figures but noted that China’s access to America’s telecommunications infrastructure was broad and that the hacking was still ongoing.<\/p>\n
“We believe a large number of Americans’ metadata was taken,” said the official, who spoke to reporters on condition that their name be withheld. Pushed on whether that might include every American cell phone’s records, the official said: “We do not believe it’s every cell phone in the country, but we believe it’s potentially a large number of individuals that the Chinese government was focused on.”<\/p>\n
Dozens of companies across the world had been hit by the hackers, the official said, including “at least” eight telecommunications and telecom infrastructure firms in the United States.<\/p>\n
U.S. officials have previously alleged the hackers targeted Verizon\u00a0(VZ.N), opens new tab, AT&T\u00a0(T.N), opens new tab, T-Mobile\u00a0(TMUS.O), opens new tab, Lumen\u00a0(LUMN.N), opens new tab\u00a0and others. T-Mobile has said\u00a0no customer data was compromised in its case, opens new tab\u00a0and Lumen said there is no evidence customer data was accessed on its network but, in at least some other cases, the hackers are alleged to have stolen telephone audio intercepts along with a large tranche of call record data.<\/p>\n
Call record metadata is sometimes described as the who, what, when, and where of phone calls. It doesn\u2019t include the content of a call but can include who a call was placed to, how long it lasted, and where it was made from. Even without the content, call record metadata \u2014 especially when captured in bulk \u2014 can reveal extraordinarily granular details about a person’s life, work, and intimate relationships.<\/p>\n
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