Salt Typhoon linked to three Chinese firms, U.S. and global targets hit

U.S. and allied cyber and intelligence agencies on Wednesday linked a widespread Chinese state backed hacking campaign known as Salt Typhoon to three China based technology firms and warned that the operation has compromised more than 200 American companies and targets in at least 80 countries. The advisory, produced jointly by the U.S. National Security Agency, the U.K. National Cyber Security Centre and partners from more than a dozen countries, describes a sustained espionage effort that has focused on telecommunications and other critical infrastructure since at least 2019.

The advisory names Sichuan Juxinhe Network Technology Co. Ltd., Beijing Huanyu Tianqiong Information Technology Co. Ltd., and Sichuan Zhixin Ruijie Network Technology Co. Ltd. and alleges the firms provided cyber products and services to China’s Ministry of State Security and the People’s Liberation Army that enabled the Salt Typhoon operations. Authorities say the campaign has breached government, telecommunications, transportation, lodging and military networks and extracted configuration files, credentials and communications data that can be used to track individuals’ communications and movements.