A US investigation into Chinese government efforts to hack into US telecommunications networks has revealed a “broad and significant” cyberespionage campaign aimed at stealing information from people who work in government and politics, the FBI said on Wednesday.
Hackers affiliated with Beijing have compromised the networks of “multiple” telecommunications companies to obtain customer call records and gain access to the private communications of “a limited number of individuals,” the FBI and the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said in a joint statement.
The FBI did not identify any of the individuals targeted by the hackers, but said that most of them “are primarily involved in government or political activity.”
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The hackers also sought to copy “certain information that was subject to US law enforcement requests pursuant to court orders,” the FBI said, suggesting that the hackers might have been trying to compromise programs like those subject to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which grants US spy agencies powers to surveil the communications of people suspected of being agents of a foreign power.
The warning comes after several high-profile hacking incidents that US authorities have linked to China, part of what they say is an effort to steal technological and government information, while also targeting vital infrastructure such as the electrical grid.
Officials are working with the telecommunications industry and people affected by hacking to shore up defenses against continuing attempts at cyberespionage, the statement said.
“We expect our understanding of these compromises to grow,” it said.
China has rejected accusations by US officials that it engages in cyberespionage directed against Americans.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
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