By — Nick Schifrin Nick Schifrin Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/chinese-hackers-have-infiltrated-at-least-8-u-s-telecom-companies-white-house-says Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Transcript Audio The White House said that a broad Chinese hacking operation had infiltrated at least eight American telecommunications companies and that none of them have managed to remove the Chinese hackers from their systems. Nick Schifrin reports. Read the Full Transcript Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors. Geoff Bennett: The White House said today that a broad Chinese hacking operation had infiltrated at least eight American telecommunication companies, and that none of them have managed to remove these Chinese hackers from their systems.Nick Schifrin has been following this all and joins us now.So, Nick, what did the White House say today? Nick Schifrin: The White House gave new details on what is believed to be the largest hack on American telecommunications firms in U.S. history.As you said, Chinese hackers infiltrated at least eight communications firms in the United States and over the last one to two years — quote — "dozens" of telecommunications companies across Asia and Europe, and the hack was ongoing, Deputy National Security Adviser for Cyber and Emerging Technology Anne Neuberger said today.Anne Neuberger, U.S. Deputy National Security Adviser for Cyber and Emerging Technology: The affected companies are all responding. Right now, we do not believe any have fully removed the Chinese actors from these networks. So the risk of — there is a risk of ongoing compromises to communications.Until U.S. companies address the cybersecurity gaps, the Chinese are likely to maintain their access. Nick Schifrin: Today, intelligence officials were on the Hill briefing all 100 senators in a classified hearing about the Chinese hackers known as Salt Typhoon, and our Lisa Desjardins caught up with Texas Republican John Cornyn. Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX): The Chinese Communist Party has infiltrated the telecommunication systems here in the United States in a dramatic and unprecedented sort of way. And it's a subject of tremendous concern.I'm sure you're going to hear more about it, because it affects a lot of people and a lot of — not just in this country, but around the world. Nick Schifrin: Yesterday, Geoff, a senior FBI official admitted the bureau still did not know how deeply the Chinese hackers had penetrated, even though the bureau had been investigating since the spring, and it could take years to know the true scope of the hack. Geoff Bennett: Do we know, though, who has been targeted? Nick Schifrin: Intelligence officials describe three baskets or three groups of targets, essentially, number one, a large number of users whose phone metadata was stolen, number two, a small group of individuals whose audio calls and text messages were specifically targeted and successfully intercepted, number three, the portal that law enforcement uses to submit court orders to telecommunications and Internet service providers.And I want to keep that list up for the moment. On the first group, whose metadata was stolen, a senior administration official said today it was — quote — "a large number of Americans," but would not provide the number, but it had a — quote — "regional focus," suggesting it was designed to find members of the second group, whose calls were intercepted and included senior members of the Trump and Harris campaigns.A former intelligence official described to me, Geoff, that this is so hard because these are incredibly sophisticated state actors with limitless budget and limitless time. They are extraordinarily difficult to detect because they enter networks with stolen credentials, so as not to set off alarm bells. And if they detect any surveillance by the Americans, they simply stop moving.They can sit there and take as long as it takes, therefore avoiding detection. Geoff Bennett: And how has China responded to all of this? Nick Schifrin: In a statement, Chinese Embassy spokesman Liu Pengyu told me that the U.S. claims were — quote — "disinformation."And he continued — quote — "China firmly opposes and combats all kinds of cyberattacks. The U.S. needs to stop its own cyberattacks against other countries and refrain from using cybersecurity to smear and slander China."The U.S., Geoff, is believed to conduct the same surveillance around the world, and I do use that term surveillance. U.S. officials use that term because this is not designed, as far as they can tell, to destroy any critical infrastructure.It is instead designed to conduct espionage, to collect information. No signs that any of this is being leaked online. As for solutions, Neuberger said today the only solution was to require companies to meet minimum cybersecurity guidelines. Right now, those guidelines are optional for these companies to meet. Geoff Bennett: All right, Nick Schifrin, thank you for this reporting. Appreciate it. Nick Schifrin: Thank you. Thank you. Listen to this Segment Watch Watch the Full Episode PBS NewsHour from Dec 04, 2024 By — Nick Schifrin Nick Schifrin Nick Schifrin is PBS NewsHour’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Correspondent. He leads NewsHour’s daily foreign coverage, including multiple trips to Ukraine since the full-scale invasion, and has created weeklong series for the NewsHour from nearly a dozen countries. The PBS NewsHour series “Inside Putin’s Russia” won a 2017 Peabody Award and the National Press Club’s Edwin M. Hood Award for Diplomatic Correspondence. In 2020 Schifrin received the American Academy of Diplomacy’s Arthur Ross Media Award for Distinguished Reporting and Analysis of Foreign Affairs. He was a member of the NewsHour teams awarded a 2021 Peabody for coverage of COVID-19, and a 2023 duPont Columbia Award for coverage of Afghanistan and Ukraine. Prior to PBS NewsHour, Schifrin was Al Jazeera America's Middle East correspondent. He led the channel’s coverage of the 2014 war in Gaza; reported on the Syrian war from Syria's Turkish, Lebanese and Jordanian borders; and covered the annexation of Crimea. He won an Overseas Press Club award for his Gaza coverage and a National Headliners Award for his Ukraine coverage. From 2008-2012, Schifrin served as the ABC News correspondent in Afghanistan and Pakistan. In 2011 he was one of the first journalists to arrive in Abbottabad, Pakistan, after Osama bin Laden’s death and delivered one of the year’s biggest exclusives: the first video from inside bin Laden’s compound. His reporting helped ABC News win an Edward R. Murrow award for its bin Laden coverage. Schifrin is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a board member of the Overseas Press Club Foundation. He has a Bachelor’s degree from Columbia University and a Master of International Public Policy degree from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). @nickschifrin