China Allegedly Steals Metadata Of Millions Of American Citizens, White House Prioritizes Handling

Illustration of hackers who carry out their activities. (photo: x @dajiyuan)

JAKARTA Metadata from a large number of Americans has reportedly been stolen by a Chinese hacker group dubbed "Salt Typhoon". A senior US official, at a press conference on Wednesday, December 4, revealed that this hacking was part of a massive cyber espionage campaign that is still ongoing today.

We believe the metadata from many Americans has been stolen, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Although reluctant to mention exact figures, he stressed that this hacker group has extensive access to American telecommunications infrastructure. However, he said the hack did not cover all American cellphone data, although the number of victims was potentially large.

The official also confirmed that dozens of global companies have been targeted, including at least eight telecommunications companies and telecommunications infrastructure in the United States. Among them are Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Lumen. Although T-Mobile claims their customer data is not affected and Lumen finds no evidence of customer data breaches, reports say several cases involve theft of large amounts of audio calls and metadata recordings.

The call's metadata, which includes information such as to whom calls are made, duration, and location, can provide in-depth insight into personal life, work, to a person's relationship, even without call content.

The White House has made handling this case a priority for the government. President Joe Biden is said to have received reports several times related to the hacking of Salt Typhoon.

Meanwhile, the US government also held a closed meeting with all senators to discuss the threats posed by Salt Typhoon against US telecommunications companies. Several agencies, including the FBI, National Intelligence Director Avril Haines, Federal Communications Commission Chair Jessica Rosenworcel, National Security Council, and US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency, took part in the meeting.

Salt Typhoon is thought to be part of a broader cyber espionage effort by the Chinese government to access critical data and damage critical infrastructure in the United States.

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