US Struggles To Remove Chinese Hackers From Major Telecom Networks

Chinese government-backed hackers have infiltrated major U.S. telecom networks, and officials are now struggling to remove their access, U.S. authorities announced Tuesday.

Jeff Greene, a senior official at the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), pointed out the complexity of the situation, according to CNN. He explained that it’s tough to figure out just how bad the security breaches are and what to do about them because they don’t have all the information about where and how deep the problems go.

“We’re still figuring out just how deeply and where they’ve penetrated, so until we have a complete picture, it’s hard to know the exact parameters of how to kick them off,” Greene said.

A senior FBI official added that most telecom providers are actively working to uncover the full scope of activities by the People’s Republic of China (PRC), CNN said. The ongoing investigation reveals that the hackers targeted communication systems used by top U.S. political figures, including President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance.

Republican South Dakota Sen. Mike Rounds previously warned that hackers have breached every major U.S. telecom provider, gaining the capability to intercept and monitor Americans’ texts and calls. This intrusion puts every individual’s private communications at risk, which highlights a threat to personal and national security.

“Any one of us and every one of us today is subject to the review by the Chinese Communist government of any cell phone conversation you have with anyone in America. Because they have access to every single one of our major telecommunications companies. They have broken in. They can read your texts, and they can hear your conversations,” Rounds said. “It’s just a matter of who they want to listen to and who they don’t.”

This espionage effort also represents a national security concern for the incoming administration, which must now deal with the fallout of these breaches, CNN reported. Telecom giants such as Verizon and AT&T, having collaborated closely with federal officials, have made the most progress in mitigating the hackers‘s presence.