On November 20, 2024, the director of the National Security Agency, General Timothy Haugh, urged the private sector to take swift, collective action to share key details about breaches they have suffered at the hands of Chinese hackers who have infiltrated US telecommunications.
Gen. Haugh said he wants to provide a public “hunt guide” so cybersecurity professionals and companies can search out the hackers and eradicate them from telecommunications networks.
US authorities have confirmed Chinese hackers have infiltrated US telecommunications in what Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, this week described as a “sprawling and catastrophic” infiltration. AT&T Inc., Verizon Communications Inc. and T-Mobile are among those targeted.
Through those intrusions, the hackers targeted communications of a “limited number” of people in politics and government, US officials have said. They include Vice President Kamala Harris’ staff, President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance, as well as staffers for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, according to Missouri Republican Senator Josh Hawley.
Representatives of the Chinese government have denied the allegations.
“The ultimate goal would be to be able to lay bare exactly what happened in ways that allow us to better posture as a nation and for our allies to be better postured,” - Gen. Tim Haugh.
