Verizon: News and Telecom

Verizon, AT&T and Lumen Technologies were targeted by an advanced nation-state actor from China as part of an intelligence gathering campaign, potentially impacting millions of American's privacy rights in the process. The Chinese hacking campaign compromised security at these telecommunication providers as it compromised millions of customers' accounts through compromised login security measures and potentially invading millions more privacy settings.
U.S. officials suspect a recently identified Chinese hacking and espionage campaign may have collected data on hundreds of thousands of American mobile phone users, potentially over 1 million customers, ABC News has learned. ABC News believes "This is likely the largest telecom hack ever perpetrated against American telecom networks since at least 2023", said Virginia Sen. Mark Warner who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee and noted, "They may already be in eight or nine telecom providers - which include most major ones".
China had initially focused its investigations on mobile phone users in and around its national capital region, though those briefed declined to provide accurate figures and instead provided more in-depth details through interviews conducted with ABC News staff members.
"What's truly frightening is if they pick you or me as victims and know our phone number; then they could actually listen in on our cellphone conversations," Warner warned. If speaking directly between Apple devices is encrypted; otherwise a group chat could provide access for hackers to listen in.
From my field experience and investigation, the evidence shows that China used U.S. computer routers serving telecom corporations to gain entry to large amounts of customer phone numbers and make an influence campaign against those companies.
ABC News previously reported that President-elect Donald Trump, Vice President-elect JD Vance and some staffers of Senator Majority Leader Chuck Schumer as well as leaders involved with their campaigns were targeted in cyberattacks by Iran.
Officials conceded they cannot definitively state whether all China hackers have been fully expelled from telecommunications networks and they remain unclear on the extent of this activity.
Multiple sources have expressed alarm that China could use captured data for their own ends; one official told ABC News of such concerns.
Verizon representatives issued a statement last month in which they noted they are aware that an "extremely sophisticated nation-state actor has targeted multiple US telecommunications providers." AT&T and Lumen declined comment at that time.
This breach represents an alarming violation that affects millions across the U.S. and may have devastating ramifications for both individuals' privacy and national security.