China hacker group targets US, Asia

A Chinese hacker group alleged to have close ties to Beijing was blamed for huge hacks of telecoms firms in the US and Asia.

The cybersecurity firm Trend Micro said this week that the hackers, called Salt Typhoon, infiltrated organizations and networks across 13 countries, most of them in Asia, but also other nations including Brazil and South Africa.

The announcement came after the heads of the biggest US telecoms companies met at the White House to discuss how to expel the hackers from their networks, where they are believed to have been lurking for over a year.

The Salt Typhoon attack is the “worst telecom hack in our nation’s history — by far,” one US senator told The Washington Post.