Washington, December 29: AT&T and Verizon, two of the most prominent telecom giants in the United States, were recently hit by a cyberattack on their systems. The latest attempt to compromise the operations was from an advanced persistent threat actor known as "Salt Typhoon," linked to China.

Despite the intensity, the cyberattack was limited as the company reported that only a few information cases were compromised. An AT&T spokesperson said that the company was attacked by a small number of individuals in the Republic of China who were of foreign interest after conducting an investigation. The spokesperson emphasised that the investigation did not detect any nation-state actors involved in the attack. Bench Shutdown: Canada-Based Fintech Firm Providing Accounting, SaaS Services Abruptly Shuts Down Its Operations, Puts Users in Difficult Situation.

The AT&T spokesperson said that the company's investigation revealed only a few compromised information. According to a report by Reuters, the US networks of AT&T and Verizon were secure as these wireless network carriers worked with law enforcement and government officials. Verizon also contained the activities related to the hacking incident. 

Salt Typhoon has been associated with several cyberattacks on US companies, and the report said that the Chinese were involved with the threat actor to gain access to the networks. These attacks were reportedly carried out by individuals to gain the full capability to geolocate millions of individuals and record phone call conversations whenever they wanted. 

Chinese officials and authorities have previously denied such allegations; however, US telecommunication companies, including Verizon, Lumen, and others, have previously alleged that China-based hackers were involved in a hacking attempt. The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has previously announced moving mobile communications to end-to-end encrypted apps. BSNL Layoffs: Government-Run Telecom Service Provider To Cut 18,000 to 19,000 Jobs To Improve Its Financial Balance, Proposes VRS 2.0.

The report mentioned that the Salt Typhoon targeted officials connected to Republic Donald Trump's presidential candidate, Democrat Kamala Harris. The cyber-attackers were not able to gain wider access to the telecommunication networks, which assured the information of US citizens was safe.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 29, 2024 11:10 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).