The Salt Typhoon cyberespionage operation targeted AT&T and Verizon, but the networks were safe.

Verizon’s (VZ.N) and AT&T’s (T.N) systems were the focus of the Chinese-affiliated Salt Typhoon cyberespionage operation, but the wireless carriers said on Saturday that their U.S. networks are now safe as they cooperate with law enforcement and government authorities. This was their first admission of the attacks.
“At this moment, we do not observe any nation-state actors operating within our networks. The People’s Republic of China targeted a limited number of people of foreign intelligence interest, according to our ongoing investigation into this attack,” an AT&T representative stated.

Even though there were just a few instances of compromised data found, the representative stated that AT&T was keeping an eye on and fixing its networks to safeguard consumer data and was still collaborating with law enforcement to evaluate and lessen the risk.

In a statement, Verizon’s Chief Legal Officer stated, “After much effort to address this problem, we can confirm that Verizon has contained the actions related to this particular incident. We have not identified threat actor activity in Verizon’s network for some time.”

According to Verizon, a reputable and independent cyber security company has verified the containment.

The Salt Typhoon hackers gained access to networks and essentially had broad and full access, allowing the Chinese to “geolocate millions of individuals, to record phone calls at will,” according to U.S. officials who added a ninth unnamed telecom company to the list of compromised entities on Friday.

Reuters contacted the Federal Communications Commission and the U.S. Department of Defense for comment on the company’s comments, but neither agency immediately responded. A comment from China’s foreign ministry was not immediately available.

Beijing “firmly opposes and combats cyber assaults and cyber theft in all forms.” Chinese officials have previously called the accusations false.

Previously, officials claimed that hackers targeted Lumen (LUMN.N), Verizon, AT&T, and other telecom firms, stealing a vast amount of call record data and telephone audio intercepts.

On December 18, the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency called on top government and political leaders to switch to end-to-end encrypted apps for mobile communications in reaction to that cyberattack.
According to reports, Salt Typhoon targeted officials involved in the presidential campaigns of Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris.

During a hearing on Dec. 11, New Mexico Democrat Sen. Ben Ray Lujan referred to Salt Typhoon as the “biggest telecommunications hack in our nation’s history,” while Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz stated that the United States “must plug any weaknesses in communications networks.”

Concern about the extent and magnitude of the alleged Chinese hacking of American telecommunications networks is growing, as is uncertainty over when businesses and the government will be able to reassure citizens about the problem.