Salt Typhoon Telecom Espionage: How China Hacked AT&T, Verizon & Lumen Technologies

The full scope of the Salt Typhoon (Chinese state-sponsored) telecom espionage campaign has been revealed, affecting at least 9 major US telecommunications carriers including AT&T, Verizon, and Lumen Technologies. Attackers maintained persistent access for over 18 months, intercepting lawful wiretap systems and metadata for senior US government officials and political figures. The CALEA (Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act) lawful intercept systems became a vulnerability. Security experts are calling for end-to-end encryption of all communications and an overhaul of wiretapping frameworks.