US officials believe Chinese hackers breached at least eight US telecommunications providers in their quest to spy on top US political figures as part of a hacking campaign that has affected dozens of countries worldwide, a White House official said Wednesday.
“Right now, we do not believe any have fully removed the Chinese actors from these networks … so there is a risk of ongoing compromises to communications,” Anne Neuberger, deputy national security adviser, told reporters.
Neuberger’s remarks came as senior US intelligence officials gave a classified briefing to senators Wednesday on the Chinese hacking campaign.
US officials are still trying to help major telecom providers evict Chinese government-backed hackers from their networks and don’t have a timeline for when that will be done, officials said Tuesday.
The telecom companies that have worked the longest with federal officials are the furthest along in evicting the hackers, FBI and CISA officials said.
Verizon and AT&T are among the major telecom carriers targeted by the hackers, CNN previously reported.
But the portal within telecom providers that allows law enforcement agencies to conduct court-ordered wiretaps was not the primary focus of the hackers, the official said. »
