US agencies to brief House on Chinese Salt Typhoon telecom hacking

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. government agencies will hold a classified briefing for the House of Representatives on Tuesday on China’s alleged efforts known as Salt Typhoon to infiltrate American telecommunications companies and steal data about U.S. calls, officials said on Monday.

The FBI, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Federal Communications Commission Chair Jessica Rosenworcel, the National Security Council and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency are set to take part in the 2:15 p.m. ET briefing for all House lawmakers after holding a similar closed-door briefing last week for senators.

The White House last week said at least eight telecommunications and telecom infrastructure firms in the United States had been impacted and a large number of Americans’ metadata has been stolen in the sweeping cyber espionage campaign.

The White House did not immediately comment.

Democratic Senator Ron Wyden told reporters after the briefing last week he was working to draft legislation on this issue, while Senator Bob Casey said he had “great concern” about the breach and added it may not be until next year before Congress can address the issue.

Separately, a Senate Commerce subcommittee will hold a Wednesday hearing on Salt Typhoon and how “security threats pose risks to our communications networks, and review best practices.” The hearing will include Competitive Carriers Association CEO Tim Donovan.

Chinese officials have previously described the allegations as disinformation and said Beijing “firmly opposes and combats cyber attacks and cyber theft in all forms.”

There is growing concern about the size and scope of the reported Chinese hacking into U.S. telecommunications networks and questions about when companies and the government can assure Americans over the matter.

“The extent and depth and breadth of Chinese hacking is absolutely mind-boggling – that we would permit as much as has happened in just the last year is terrifying,” said Senator Richard Blumenthal.

U.S. officials have previously alleged the hackers targeted Verizon (NYSE:VZ), AT&T (NYSE:T), Lumen and others, and stole telephone audio intercepts along with a large tranche of call record data.