US Telecom Operator Also Hit by Hackers: Attack Preceded "Salt Typhoon" by a Year

Bloomberg Reports Suspected Chinese Hackers Involved
Incident Reported to Western Intelligence Agencies Last Year
FBI Tracing Salt Typhoon Attackers... China Denies Involvement

While South Korea has recently been embroiled in controversy over a telecommunications company hacking incident, it has belatedly come to light that a similar hacking attack targeting a telecom operator occurred in the United States in 2023. As with the 2024 Salt Typhoon incident, this attack is suspected to have been carried out by Chinese hackers, although the perpetrators have not been definitively identified.

On June 5 (local time), Bloomberg News reported that investigators hired by a U.S. telecom operator discovered evidence in the summer of 2023 that Chinese hackers had infiltrated the company. This incident is believed to have occurred about a year before the Salt Typhoon case, which is known as a major Chinese hacker attack on a U.S. telecom operator.

Multiple sources stated that investigators found malware, used by a hacking group backed by the Chinese government, had been present in the company’s systems for about seven months starting from the summer of 2023. Bloomberg also revealed that it had obtained a report submitted to Western intelligence agencies. The document did not specify the name of the telecom operator where the malware was found, and the sources also declined to identify the company.

The malware used in the crime, known as "Demodex," is believed to have been implanted in the company’s systems from the summer of 2023 to early 2024. This is the same type of malware that was previously detected in hacking incidents targeting telecom operators in Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand, Afghanistan, and Indonesia.

This case is similar to the 2024 Salt Typhoon incident. Salt Typhoon, which the U.S. government has designated as a "China-linked hacking group," targeted major U.S. telecommunications infrastructure including AT&T and Verizon. Through these hacking crimes, the group leaked the call records and other data of more than one million individual customers. Wiretapping reportedly also targeted major political figures, including President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and former Vice President Kamala Harris. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is still investigating the case, while China has consistently denied any involvement.

However, Bloomberg reported that there is no official confirmation of a link to China in this case. Major U.S. agencies?including the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), National Security Agency (NSA), FBI, and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA)?all declined to comment. Chinese Embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu stated, "It is difficult to determine the source of hacking," and claimed, "The United States and its allies have actually been conducting cyberattacks targeting China." He further demanded, "Stop slandering China over cybersecurity issues and cease spreading false information."