Chinese Hacker Group Allegedly Broke into US House Staff Email System

A group of hackers from China is reported to have hacked the email system used by staff of important committees in the United States House of Representatives (DPR). The report was first revealed by the Financial Times (FT) by quoting sources who know directly about the incident.

According to the FT report, the hacker group dubbed Salt Typhoon managed to access the email system of staff of the US House of Representatives China Committee, as well as aides on the foreign affairs, intelligence, and armed forces committees. However, the report did not detail which staff was the target of the cyber attack.

Until now, FT has not been able to independently verify the report. A spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, Liu Pengyu, condemned the report and called it speculation and unfounded accusations.

Meanwhile, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) declined to comment. The White House and the offices of the four US House of Representatives committees that were said to be targeted have also not provided an official response.

FT quoted a source who knew about the operation and said it was not clear whether the hackers also managed to access the emails of the members of parliament. The attack was reportedly detected last December.

Members of the US Congress and their staff, especially those overseeing military and intelligence agencies, have long been the main targets of cyber espionage. Reports on hacking and hacking attempts against US legislative agencies often appear periodically.

In November, US Senate officials in charge of internal security informed a number of congressional offices of a cyber incident, in which hackers allegedly accessed communications between the Congressional Budget Office and several senator's offices. In 2023, the Washington Post also reported that two senior US lawmakers were the target of a hacking operation linked to Vietnam.

The Salt Typhoon group itself has long been a concern of the US intelligence community. The group is accused of having links to Chinese intelligence agencies and is suspected of collecting the communication data of millions of American citizens, including conversations between politicians and US government officials. The Chinese government has repeatedly denied involvement in espionage activities.

At the beginning of last year, the United States imposed sanctions on a hacker named Yin Kecheng as well as the Sichuan Juxinhe Network Technology cybersecurity company. Both are accused of being involved in the activities of the Salt Typhoon group.