Sen. Mike Rounds (HISF) Republican South Dakota Senator Mike Rounds issued a stark warning on Friday, revealing that Chinese state-sponsored hacke
Republican South Dakota Senator Mike Rounds issued a stark warning on Friday, revealing that Chinese state-sponsored hackers, known as “Salt Typhoon,” have infiltrated all major U.S. telecommunications networks.
Speaking at Halifax International Security Forum, Rounds detailed the extent of the breach, asserting that the Chinese government now has the ability to spy on millions of Americans through their mobile phones.
“Any one of us and every one of us today is subject to the review by the Chinese Communist government of any cell phone conversation you have with anyone in America. Because they have access to every single one of our major telecommunications companies,” said Rounds.
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“They have broken in. They can read your texts, and they can hear your conversations. It’s just a matter of who they want to listen to and who they don’t,” Rounds added.
Democratic Virginia Senator Mark Warner, chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, corroborated Rounds’ claims, calling the breach “the worst telecom hack in our nation’s history.” Warner confirmed that Salt Typhoon has been embedded in networks such as AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile for over a year, exploiting outdated infrastructure and system vulnerabilities.
The hackers reportedly gained access to law enforcement wiretap request logs, revealing ongoing investigations and targets. While the wiretap systems themselves remain uncompromised, Warner warned that the hackers’ persistence poses a grave threat to national security.
The breach reportedly targeted communications involving high-profile figures, including former President Donald Trump, Vice President-elect JD Vance, and White House officials. Despite FBI intervention, the hackers remain entrenched in the U.S. telecom infrastructure.
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Warner emphasized that removing Salt Typhoon will require extensive efforts, including replacing thousands of routers and switches across affected networks. “This is part of China’s ongoing strategy to infiltrate global telecom systems and exfiltrate vast amounts of data,” Warner said.
National security officials are urging immediate measures to strengthen cybersecurity in response to the attack. Deputy National Security Adviser Anne Neuberger stressed the urgency, stating, “We must lock our digital doors.”
The Biden administration and national security leaders, including those appointed by former President Trump, have pledged a heightened focus on countering cyber threats. Officials have called for a comprehensive overhaul of the nation’s telecom infrastructure to protect against future breaches.
While fewer than 150 individuals were directly targeted by the breach, the compromised networks have exposed data belonging to millions of Americans, underscoring the scope of the threat posed by Salt Typhoon.
In a statement to the Tampa Free Press, T-Mobile said:
Our top cyber leader who architected our advanced cyber defense strategy joined the meeting at the White House to share critical insights about how T-Mobile has had no unauthorized access to sensitive customer information and has no indication that an attack is ongoing – a much different situation than what has been reported about other providers.
While we have seen increased targeted attacks from an unidentified party, our strong security controls, the industry’s only 5G standalone network, and diligent monitoring and response worked as designed to halt them. As such we had no unauthorized access to sensitive customer information, including phone calls and text messages, that others reportedly have had.
We are tremendously proud of what we have accomplished here, and we will remain vigilant, never presuming that we are not vulnerable to bad actors. Our work to defend our network from cyber-attacks will continue, as will our collaboration alongside public and private sector partners.
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