A cyber attack linked to the Chinese government penetrated the networks of American telecommunications companies. Hackers may have gained access to information systems used by the federal government for court-ordered wiretapping.
Points of attention
- Chinese hackers, likely linked to the Celestial government, attacked the networks of telecommunications companies in the United States, gaining access to wiretapping systems.
- An attack by Chinese hackers on US judicial wiretapping systems poses a serious threat to national security, as it could make it impossible to legally intercept data as part of judicial investigations.
- According to experts, a Chinese hacker group called "Salty Typhoon" carried out this attack, which is still under investigation by government and private organizations in the United States.
- Russian bots are using fake videos to discredit Kamala Harris, spreading misinformation and creating negative trends about the politician.
- Troll group Storm-1679 focuses on creating fake videos that negatively affect the image of Kamala Harris, collecting millions of views on social networks.
China hacked US judicial wiretapping systems
Hackers may have had access to the network infrastructure for several months to carry out legitimate data interception requests, which pose a serious threat to US national security, the publication's sources said.
Among the companies affected by the attack are Verizon Communications, AT&T and Lumen Technologies. Under federal law, telecommunications companies are required to allow authorities access to data upon court order.
However, it is not yet known whether systems used to monitor foreign intelligence have been affected.
The attack was carried out by a Chinese hacker group known as "Salty Typhoon". The hack only came to light in recent weeks and is currently under investigation involving the US government and private sector security experts.
According to the source, the U.S. government considers the hack a significant event that causes serious concern.
Russian bots are spreading fake videos to discredit Kamala Harris
As noted in a report by the Microsoft Threat Analysis Center (MTAC), over the past few months, Russia has changed its tactics to influence the political situation in the United States, focusing on the Harris-Walz campaign by distributing disinformation videos.
Two groups of trolls are mentioned, Storm-1516 and the new Storm-1679, who created and distributed two videos about Harris that have received millions of views.
The first video is about an alleged attack by Harris supporters on a participant in a rally in support of Donald Trump. In the second video, the actress, who looks like Harris, is shown running from the scene of the accident.
These videos are distributed under the name of a fictitious local San Francisco media outlet created a few days before they were published.
A new troll group, Storm-1679, has shifted its focus from content about the Paris Olympics to spreading fake videos discrediting Harris. One such video, which contained false claims, garnered more than 100,000 views on Telegram within hours.
