A federal investigation into China’s attempts to infiltrate U.S. telecommunications networks has revealed a “widespread and significant” cyber espionage campaign aimed at stealing information from American citizens working for the government or involved in politics, the FBI announced on Wednesday.
Hackers linked to Beijing have compromised the networks of several telecommunications companies with the intent of accessing customer phone data and gaining access to private communications of “a limited number of individuals,” according to a joint statement released by the FBI and the federal agency for Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security.
The FBI did not identify any of the individuals targeted by the Chinese hackers but said that most of them “are primarily involved in government or political activities.”
