数月来，据CNN多位知情人士透露，一支高技能、与中国政府有关联的黑客团队已成功渗透了美国多家电信公司，其目标可能包括搜寻与国家安全相关的敏感信息。
美国调查人员相信，这些黑客有可能访问了拦截监听请求文档，两位了解情况的消息来源表示。但官员们仍在努力确定黑客获取的具体信息内容。涉事公司包括美国宽带和互联网供应商AT&T、Verizon以及Lumen。
美国官方对于这起黑客行动可能带来的国家安全隐患极为忧虑。据报道，美国执法机关如司法部和联邦调查局（FBI）尚未对此进行公开回应。此外，知情人士指出，美国官员已向国会情报委员会通报了此事。微软公司与谷歌旗下安全机构曼迪昂特的网络安全专家亦在协助调查。
这些消息来源表示，对黑客行动的调查揭示了对方高超的技术能力、持久性及深入计算机网络的能力。据业内知情人透露，这些黑客被业内称为“盐台风”（Salt Typhoon）。微软方面回应称：“我们关注并追踪‘盐台风’的活动，并依据公之于众的新闻报道提供给客户适当的信息以进行调查。”
尽管中国有其他多个可执行间谍或网络中断任务的黑客团队处于其麾下，但美国官员及私人专家指出。据FBI局长克里斯托弗·雷透露，中国政府支持的黑客数量几乎是FBI网络安全人员的50倍。
另有消息来源称，据美国官方指控，另一支与中国政府有关联的黑客组织一直潜伏在美国交通和通讯网络之中，伺机利用此通道干扰任何针对台湾潜在军事行动时可能采取的美国反制措施。报道还指出，去年在国务卿安东尼·布林肯访华前夕，中国黑客曾入侵美国高级外交官的非加密电子邮件账户。
作为互联网和电话通信的核心，美国电信公司持有大量的用户和通话数据。执法机关在执行犯罪或国家安全调查时需通过获得授权才能访问这些数据的特定部分。这其中的一部分调查可能引发北京的兴趣。
近年来，中国政府官员多次被指控针对美国土生华人进行骚扰，以及黑客攻击政治异议人士与美国企业。AT&T及Lumen拒绝发表评论，而Verizon则未对此前要求其回应的消息请求做出回复。美司法部和FBI亦未对此事件发表评论。中国驻华盛顿大使馆否认北京支持的黑客袭击了美国电信公司，并称相关报道为“对事实的曲解”。该国发言人刘鹏宇指责美国政府借网络安全问题之机抹黑中国。
《华尔街日报》最先报道了此起黑客行动的相关信息。美国政府官员已就中国的黑客活动情况向国会情报委员会进行了简报。美国官方称，中国黑客团队在中美双边会议上常被提及作为争端点之一。
此前有报道称，在拜登与习近平去年在加州会面时，中方领导人曾告诉美国总统拜登，中国不会干涉2024年总统选举。
新闻来源：www.cnn.com
原文地址：Chinese hackers access US telecom firms, worrying national security officials
新闻日期：2024-10-05
原文摘要：
A highly skilled group of Chinese government-linked hackers has in the last several months infiltrated multiple US telecommunications firms in a likely search for sensitive information bearing on national security, multiple sources briefed on the matter told CNN. US investigators believe the hackers potentially accessed wiretap warrant requests, two of the sources said, but officials are still working to determine what information the hackers may have obtained. US broadband and internet providers AT&T, Verizon and Lumen are among the targets, the sources said. US officials are concerned about the potential national security damage done by the hacking, which they only recently discovered. It’s the latest sophisticated hack targeting US federal agencies that investigators have linked to China, and it comes amid tensions between Washington and Beijing over cyber-espionage and other high-stakes national security issues. As the backbone of internet and phone communications, US telecom firms hold enormous volumes of caller and user data. US law enforcement agencies request access, through a warrant, to specific portions of that data as part of criminal and national security investigations. Some of those investigations would be of keen interest to Beijing. The US government has in recent years brought charges against Chinese government agents for allegedly harassing Chinese nationals on US soil and for hacking political dissidents and American companies. AT&T and Lumen declined to comment. Verizon did not respond to multiple requests for comment. The Justice Department and the FBI declined to comment. The Chinese Embassy in Washington, DC, denied that Beijing-backed hackers had breached US telecom firms, calling that information “a distortion of the fact.” Embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu accused the US of “politicizing cybersecurity issues to smear China.” The Wall Street Journal first reported on the hacking activity. US officials have briefed the House and Senate intelligence committees on the Chinese hacking campaign, two sources said. Cybersecurity experts from Microsoft and Google-owned firm Mandiant have been helping to investigate the hacking activity. People probing the hacks have been struck by the hackers’ skill, persistence and ability to burrow into computer networks, the sources briefed on the matter said. The Chinese hacking team in question is known in the cybersecurity industry as Salt Typhoon. “We track Salt Typhoon and have seen activity consistent with public news reports,” a Microsoft spokesperson told CNN. “When we see nation state activity, we provide customers with information to investigate as appropriate.” Yet the Chinese government has an array of other hacking teams at its disposal that can conduct espionage or disrupt computer networks, according to US officials and private experts. FBI Director Christopher Wray has said that Chinese government-backed hackers outnumber FBI cyber personnel 50 to 1. Another Chinese government-backed hacking group has been lurking in US transportation and communication networks, waiting to use that access to disrupt any US response to a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, US officials have alleged. Yet another Chinese group broke into the unclassified email accounts of senior US diplomats last year on the eve of a high-profile visit by Secretary of State Antony Blinken to China, CNN reported. Seeking to sway public opinion in the face of detailed US government allegations, China has increasingly accused the US government of conducting cyberattacks against Chinese organizations. Hacking and information operations are a regular point of contention in bilateral meetings. Chinese leader Xi Jinping told US President Joe Biden that China would not interfere in the 2024 presidential election when the two men met in California last year, CNN previously reported.
