Chinese hacking of US telecom networks raises questions about the exploitation by hostile hacking groups of government backdoors to provide lawful access to telecoms services
US government agencies have been urged to use end-to-end encrypted messaging services, including WhatsApp, Signal and FaceTime, following disclosures that China has breached US telephone networks in a hacking operation that undermines US national security.
In a letter to the US Department of Defence (DOD), two prominent senators warned the DOD is placing security at risk through its continued use of unencrypted landlines, and unencrypted platforms such as Microsoft Teams.
The warning follows confirmation from the FBI and the US Cyber Security and Infrastructure Agency (CISA) that groups linked to the People’s Republic of China have compromised multiple telephone networks and had accessed private communications of a “limited number” of people in government and politics in a hacking operation dubbed Salt Typhoon.
Democratic senator Ron Wyden and republican Eric Schmitt criticised the defence department for failing to use its purchasing power to require wireless telephone service providers to provide cyber defences and accountability, in a letter on 4 December 2024.
“DOD’s failure to secure its unclassified voice, video and text communications with end-to-end encryption has left it vulnerable to foreign espionage,” they warned.US Navy tests encrypted messaging
The senators disclosed previously classified details of a trial by the US Navy to test end-to-end encryption communications platform Matrix, an open-source, decentralised service widely used by Nato countries.
