T-Mobile confirms its network was hit by Chinese hackers

T-Mobile joins the list of victims of the salt typhoon
Salt Typhoon heavily targeted the telecommunications sector
No evidence of access to customer data was found

T-Mobile has joined the growing list US telecom operators hacked by Salt Typhoon.

The company confirmed in a statement to The Wall Street Journal that even though a breach occurred, there is no evidence that the attackers accessed or stole any customer data.

“T-Mobile is closely monitoring this industry-wide attack, and at this time, T-Mobile’s systems and data have not been significantly impacted, and we have no evidence of impact to customer information. We will continue to monitor this closely, working with industry colleagues and relevant authorities,” the company said in a statement.

The Salt Typhoon continues its attack

Salt Typhoon is conducting a broad attack on US and Canadian telecommunications companies and internet service providers as part of what is believed to be a critical infrastructure mapping and espionage campaign.

The FBI recently confirmed the group successfully gained access to networks and private communications members of the US government.

The The US government has also issued a warning through the Consumer Protection Bureau (CFPB) for its employees to avoid using personal cell phones for work purposes, noting: “While there is no evidence that the CFPB has been targeted by this unauthorized access, I am asking you to follow these directives so that we reduce the risk of that we will be compromised.”

In a further statement to BleepingComputerT-Mobile added: “Thanks to our security measures, network architecture, and careful monitoring and response, we did not observe significant impacts to T-Mobile’s systems or data. We have no evidence of any customer or other confidential information being accessed or stolen, as other companies may have.”

The group is widely recognized as a Chinese state-sponsored threat organization, and the campaign is believed to be a mapping and vulnerability-hunting campaign for future attacks.

Other telecommunications companies affected by this campaign include AT&T, Lumen Technologies and Verizon, with attackers potentially having access to customer and network data for months. The network used by US authorities to make requests under court orders was also breached.

Collection of T-Mobile violations by BleepingComputer this is the ninth since 2019, when the company has suffered a series of data breaches, attacks and extortion attempts.