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It is a sad but undeniable truth that some of the world’s most profitable products are terrible. That lightbulb realisation dawned on me when I worked on the Financial Times’ Lex column and learnt that the most successful pharmaceutical drugs – for manufacturers if not patients – were those that alleviated symptoms but did not cure the complaint. Eliminate the problem and you kill demand. Where is the financial incentive in that?
Lightbulbs, curiously enough, are another example of the same phenomenon. Why develop everlasting lightbulbs (the Centennial Bulb has been in continuous operation in a Californian fire station since 1901) when you can sell ones that blow periodically? Economic theory suggests that these inefficiencies should be competed away. Real life does not always work that way.
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WASHINGTON – A sophisticated breach of US telecommunications systems has extended to the presidential campaigns, raising questions about the group behind the attack and the extent of its efforts at collecting intelligence.
It was unclear what data was taken in the attack. The far-reaching operation has been linked to the Chinese government and attributed to a group experts call Salt Typhoon.
Investigators believe hackers took aim at a host of well-connected Americans, including the presidential candidates – reflecting the scope and potential severity of the hack.
Here’s what to know.
What is Salt Typhoon?
Salt Typhoon is the name Microsoft cybersecurity experts have given to a Chinese group suspected of using sophisticated techniques to hack into major systems – most recently, US telecommunication companies.
The moniker is based on Microsoft’s practice of naming hacking groups after types of weather – “typhoon” for hackers based in China, “sandstorm” for efforts by Iran and “blizzard” for operations mounted by Russia. A second term, in this case “salt,” is used to denote the type of hacking.
Experts say Salt Typhoon seems to be focused primarily on counterintelligence targets, unlike other hacking groups that may try to steal corporate data, money or other secrets.
What do US officials think Salt Typhoon has done?
National security officials have gathered evidence indicating the hackers were able to infiltrate major telecom companies, including but not limited to Verizon.
The New York Times reported on Oct 25 that among the phones targeted were devices used by former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Senator JD Vance of Ohio. The effort is believed to be part of a wide-ranging intelligence-collection effort that also took aim at Democrats, including staff members of both Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign and Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the majority leader.
How serious is this hacking?
National security officials are still scrambling to understand the severity of the breach, but they are greatly concerned if, as it appears, hackers linked to Chinese intelligence were able to access US cellphone and data networks. Such information can provide a wealth of useful intelligence to a foreign adversary like China.
To some degree, the breach represents a continuation of data collection on the types of targets that spies have been gathering for decades. In this instance, however, the sheer quantity and quality of the information Salt Typhoon may have gained access to could put the intrusion into its own category, and suggests that US data networks are more vulnerable than officials realised.
What did the hackers get?
At this stage, that is still unclear. One major concern among government officials is whether the group was able to observe any court-ordered investigative work, such as Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act collection – a highly secretive part of American efforts to root out spies and terrorists.
No one has suggested yet that the hackers were able to essentially operate inside individual targets’ phones. The more immediate concern would be if they were able to see who was in contact with candidates and elected officials, and how often they spoke and for how long. That kind of information could help any intelligence agency understand who is close to senior decision-makers in the government.
People familiar with the investigation say it is not yet known if the hackers were able to gain access to that kind of information; investigators are reasonably confident that the perpetrators were focused on specific phone numbers associated with presidential campaigns, senior government leaders, their staff members and others.
Like the weather, hacking is never really over, and the Salt Typhoon breach may not be over either. It is also possible that the United States may never learn precisely what the hackers got. NYTIMES
WASHINGTON – China-linked hackers have intercepted surveillance data intended for American law enforcement agencies after breaking in to an unspecified number of telecom companies, US authorities said on Nov 13.
The hackers compromised the networks of “multiple telecommunications companies” and stole US customer call records and communications from “a limited number of individuals who are primarily involved in government or political activity”, according to a joint statement released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the US cyber watchdog agency CISA.
The two agencies said the hackers also copied “certain information that was subject to US law enforcement requests pursuant to court orders”.
The statement gave few other details, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency immediately responded to a request for comment.
The FBI declined to comment.
The announcement confirms the broad outlines of previous media reports, especially those in the Wall Street Journal, that Chinese hackers were feared to have opened a back door into the interception systems used by law enforcement to surveil Americans’ telecommunications.
That, combined with reports that Chinese hackers had targeted telephones belonging to then-presidential and vice-presidential candidates Donald Trump and J.D. Vance, along with other senior political figures, raised widespread concern over the security of America’s telecommunications infrastructure.
The matter is already slated for investigation by the Department of Homeland Security’s Cyber Safety Review Board, which was set up to analyse the causes and fallout of major digital security incidents.
The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately return a message seeking comment. Beijing routinely denies US hacking allegations. REUTERS
SINGAPORE – Singapore Telecommunications Ltd., Singapore’s largest mobile carrier, was breached by Chinese state-sponsored hackers this summer as part of a broader campaign against telecommunications companies and other critical infrastructure operators around the world, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The previously undisclosed breach was discovered in June, and investigators believe it was pulled off by a hacking group known as Volt Typhoon, according to the two people, who asked not to be identified to discuss a confidential investigation.
Officials in the US, Australia, Canada, the UK and New Zealand – the “Five Eyes” intelligence-sharing alliance – warned earlier in 2024 that Volt Typhoon was embedding itself inside compromised IT networks to give China the ability to conduct disruptive cyberattacks in the event of a military conflict with the West.
The breach of Singtel, a carrier with operations throughout South-east Asia and Australia, was seen as a test run by China for further hacks against US telecommunications companies, and information from the attack has provided clues about the expanding scope of suspected Chinese attacks against critical infrastructure abroad, including in the US, the people said.
In an e-mailed response to queries from Bloomberg News, Singtel did not directly address questions about the alleged breach. “We understand the importance of network resilience, especially because we are a key infrastructure service provider,” the company said. “That’s why we adopt industry best practices and work with industry-leading security partners to continuously monitor and promptly address the threats that we face on a daily basis. We also regularly review and enhance our cybersecurity capabilities and defences to protect our critical assets from evolving threats.”
A spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, Liu Pengyu, said he was not aware of the specifics, as relayed by Bloomberg, but that in general, China firmly opposes and combats cyberattacks and cybertheft.
The US is currently battling its own suspected Chinese attacks of political campaigns and telecommunications companies. Officials have described the telecom breaches as one of the most damaging campaigns on record by suspected Chinese hackers and one that they are still seeking to fully understand and contain.
In the US telecommunications attacks, which investigators have attributed to another Chinese group called Salt Typhoon, AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. are among those breached, and the hackers potentially accessed systems the federal government uses for court-authorised network wiretapping requests, the Wall Street Journal reported in early October.
US intelligence officials think the Chinese hacking group that Microsoft Corp. dubbed Salt Typhoon may have been inside US telecommunications companies for months and found a route into an access point for legally authorised wiretapping, according to a person familiar with their views.
AT&T declined to comment. Verizon did not respond to a request for comment.
Through those intrusions, the hackers are believed to have targeted the phones of former President Donald Trump, running mate JD Vance and Trump family members, as well as members of Vice-President Kamala Harris’ campaign staff and others, the New York Times has reported.
In the case of the alleged Singtel breach, one of the people familiar with that incident said the attack relied on a tool known as a web shell.
In August, researchers at Lumen Technologies Inc. said in a blog post they assessed with “moderate confidence” that Volt Typhoon had used such a web shell. A sample of the malware was first uploaded to VirusTotal, a popular site for security experts to research malicious code, on June 7 by an unidentified entity in Singapore, according to Lumen researchers.
The web shell allowed hackers to intercept and gather credentials to gain access to a customer’s network disguised as a bona fide user, they said.
The hackers then breached four US firms, including internet service providers, and another in India, according to Lumen researchers.
General Timothy Haugh, director of the National Security Agency, said in early October that the investigations into the latest telecommunications breaches were at an early stage. Later in October, the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said they had identified specific malicious activity by actors affiliated with the Chinese government and immediately notified affected companies and “rendered technical assistance.”
A spokesperson for the National Security Council last week referred to the “ongoing investigation and mitigation efforts,” but directed further questions to the FBI and CISA.
Singtel uncovered the breach of its network after detecting suspicious data traffic in a core back-end router and finding what it believed was sophisticated, and possibly state-sponsored, malware on it, according to the other person familiar with the investigation.
The malware was in “listening” mode and didn’t appear to have been activated for espionage or any other purpose, the person said, adding that it reinforced a suspicion that the attack was either a test run of a new hacking capability or that its purpose was to create a strategic access point for future attacks.
There is evidence that Salt Typhoon reached the US at least as early as spring 2024, and possibly long before, and investigators tracking the group think it has infiltrated other telecommunications companies throughout Asia, including in Indonesia, Nepal, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, according to two people familiar with those efforts.
The NSA has warned since 2022 that telecommunications infrastructure was vulnerable to Chinese hacking. Volt Typhoon has been active since at least mid-2020, having attacked sensitive networks in Guam and elsewhere in the US with a goal of burrowing into critical infrastructure and staying undetected for as long as possible.
The hacks by both Chinese Typhoon groups have alarmed Western officials and raised concerns about the number and severity of backdoors – a way to get around security tools and gain high-level access to a computer system – that China has placed inside critical IT systems. Those entry points could be used to conduct espionage or prepare the battlespace for use in a potential military conflict with the West.
Chinese hackers have long been accused of conducting espionage attacks against the US – including, most notably, the theft of security clearance applications for tens of millions of US government workers held by the Office of Personnel Management.
But officials say the latest hacks go a step further and in some cases suggest China may be amassing capabilities to disrupt or degrade critical services in the US and abroad.
Paul Nakasone, a retired general who led the NSA for nearly six years until February, told reporters in October that the latest telecommunications hacks by Salt Typhoon were distinguished by their scale, and that the two Chinese groups represent a tremendous challenge for the government. “I am not pleased in terms of where we’re at with either of the Typhoons,” he said. BLOOMBERG
SEOUL – Pro-Russia hacking groups have conducted cyberattacks against South Korea after North Korea dispatched troops to Russia to support its war against Ukraine, Seoul’s presidential office said on Friday.
The office held an emergency intra-agency meeting after detecting denial-of-service attacks on some government and private websites in recent days.
Some of the websites experienced temporary outages but there was no serious damage, it said, adding that the government will strengthen its ability to respond to such attacks.
“Cyber attacks by pro-Russian hacktivist groups on our country have occurred intermittently in the past, but have become more frequent since North Korea dispatched troops to Russia and participated in the Ukraine war,” the office said in a statement.
Seoul and Washington have said there are more than 10,000 North Korean soldiers in Russia, and U.S. officials and Ukraine’s defence minister said some of them have engaged in combat in Kursk, near the Ukraine border.
The new military cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow has been condemned by South Korea, the United States and Western allies. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Tuesday that the first battles between his country’s military and North Korean troops “open a new page in instability in the world.” REUTERS