(Reuters) -Chinese hackers accessed the networks of U.S. broadband providers and obtained information from systems the federal government uses for court-authorized wiretaps, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday.
Verizon Communications (NYSE:), AT&T (NYSE:) and Lumen Technologies are among the telecommunications companies whose networks were breached by the recently discovered intrusion, the newspaper said, citing people familiar with the matter.
The hackers could have had months of access to the network infrastructure used by the companies to cooperate with requests for communications data authorized by U.S. courts, the Journal said. He said hackers had also accessed other stretches of Internet traffic.
China's Foreign Ministry responded on Sunday that it was not aware of the attack described in the report, but said the United States had “invented a false narrative” to “incriminate” China in the past.
“At a time when cybersecurity has become a common challenge for all countries in the world, this misguided approach will only hamper the efforts of the international community to jointly address the challenge through dialogue and cooperation,” the ministry said. in a statement to Reuters.
Beijing has previously denied claims by the US government and others that it has used hackers to break into foreign computer systems.
Lumen Technologies declined to comment, while Verizon and AT&T did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Journal said the attack was carried out by a Chinese hacking group with the goal of gathering intelligence. American researchers have dubbed it the “Salt Typhoon.”
Earlier this year, U.S. law enforcement took down a major Chinese hacking group dubbed “Flax Typhoon,” months after confronting Beijing over extensive cyber espionage under a campaign called “Volt Typhoon.”
China's Foreign Ministry said in its statement that Beijing's cybersecurity agencies had found and published evidence showing that Volt Typhoon was organized by “an international ransomware organization.”
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