A former senior FBI official says a five-year cyber campaign from a Chinese state-linked group known as Salt Typhoon probably reached nearly every American. The breach targeted major U.S. telecommunications networks — including phone call and internet systems — exposing data that flows through core infrastructure.
Officials estimate the attack spanned multiple years and entangled carriers serving tens of millions of customers nationwide. Because telecom networks route so much of Americans’ daily communications, experts argue that few, if any, escaped unscathed.
At this point, the identity of all impacted individuals remains unknown. Investigators have not released a public list of affected users — and it appears nobody has yet confirmed exactly who was compromised. Meanwhile, telecom providers and federal agencies are scrambling to trace the breach, identify exposed data, and strengthen network security.
As of now, there are no verified reports of data destruction or mass outages. But the implications run deep — sensitive metadata, call logs, text records, and other communications metadata might have been exposed, raising long-term privacy concerns.
Authorities have urged U.S. telecom firms to tighten protections and said customers should assume their data may have been accessed.