Salt Typhoon hacks ‘a wake up call’ to secure telecom services, lawmakers say

The Cyber Safety Review Board was in the middle of investigating the Salt Typhoon hacks when it was disbanded in January. Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., said the board’s termination “leaves in limbo” the government’s probe into the breach.

Lawmakers on a key House panel said Wednesday that the breadth of the Chinese Salt Typhoon hacking campaign underscores the need to secure U.S. telecommunications infrastructure from a range of outsider threats, even as some Democrats said the Trump administration’s discontinuation of a key cybersecurity investigative body jeopardizes ongoing efforts to review the breach. 

The Salt Typhoon hacks, which were first discovered last year, allowed the Chinese espionage group to access the networks of at least nine American telecommunications operators and their law enforcement wiretapping platforms, as well as dozens of other global telecom providers. The hackers also targeted the communications of a number of high-profile political individuals ...