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Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:
US Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) has demanded that Google-owned incident response firm Mandiant hand over the Salt Typhoon-related security assessments of AT&T and Verizon that, according to the lawmaker, both operators have thus far refused to give Congress.
AT&T and Verizon's networks were among those breached by China's Salt Typhoon, potentially giving Beijing long-term, persistent access to critical US networks.
"In December 2024, AT&T and Verizon both claimed that their networks were secure, but only weeks before the companies made those announcements, the U.S. government warned the breach was so significant it made it 'impossible' for agencies 'to predict a time frame on when we'll have a full eviction,'" the Democratic senator from Washington state wrote in a July 23 letter [PDF] to Mandiant Executive VP Sandra Joyce.
To get a better idea of whether the telecoms firms' claims are true, Cantwell last month sent a letter to both AT&T and Verizon requesting information about steps they took to secure their networks. Both companies told her that Mandiant had conducted security assessments following the Salt Typhoon intrusions, but the telcos refused to hand them over, according to the senator.
"This response only heightens my concerns about AT&T's and Verizon's current security posture, as they are either unwilling or unable to provide specific documentation that would corroborate their claims that their networks are secure," Cantwell wrote.
So instead, Cantwell has asked Mandiant to provide these documents by August 6. Specifically, the senator wants the incident response firm to share with Congress:
- A copy of all reports, assessments, and analyses Mandiant conducted for AT&T and Verizon, respectively, in response to the Salt Typhoon attacks.
- A list of any recommendations by Mandiant that have not been fully addressed by AT&T or Verizon in response to the Salt Typhoon attacks.
- All records related to the costs and expenses of Mandiant's work for AT&T and Verizon, respectively, in response to the Salt Typhoon attacks.
It's highly unlikely, however, that American networks have fully eradicated the Chinese spies and locked all of their backdoors into US-based IT systems.
In February, two months after AT&T and Verizon confirmed that Chinese government-backed snoops accessed portions of their systems earlier in 2024, Recorded Future's Insikt Group documented Salt Typhoon compromises in at least seven devices linked to global telecom providers and other orgs.
Plus, the PRC snoops "possibly targeted" more than a dozen universities, including the University of California, Los Angeles, to access research related to telecommunications, engineering, and technology, according to the infosec shop.
Then, in June, SecurityScorecard's strike threat analysts told The Register that the team uncovered an ongoing campaign, designed to gain long-term access to networks that bears all the markings of one of China's "Typhoon" crews.
The Cyber Safety Review Board (CSRB), under the Department of Homeland Security umbrella, had been investigating Salt Typhoon, and how the Chinese cyber spies penetrated US government and telecommunications networks, prior to the board's dissolution on President Trump's first day in office.
Also last month, a group of Democratic senators urged Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to reestablish the CSRB, in large part so the board could finish its Salt Typhoon probe.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by VLM on Tuesday July 29 2025, @09:55PM (1 child)
I'm a little confused if this is "demand" as in congressional hearing subpoena or "demand" as in a strongly worded press release about having a staffer send a polite request email.
Probably "demand" as in I demand press coverage for re-election purposes LOL.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 30 2025, @03:12PM
So in new America, the senate or congress have no oversight? After a hack like that we just turn the page cause secrets and stuff? Accountability does not exist.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 29 2025, @10:17PM (21 children)
I hope that all of you understand that everything the government says about this is being taken at face value as absolute truth. Nobody questions a thing, much less demands (in a "Firmly Worded Letter"®) actual evidence that it's not Ukrainians, or a kid in Peoria, or that the data was "sold" through a back door that security left unlocked
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 30 2025, @12:04AM (20 children)
Whoever else is in there can easily be guessed but the evidence apparently shows that the list includes representatives of the CCP at the very least.
> actual evidence that it's not Ukrainians, or a kid in Peoria, or that the data was "sold" through a back door that security left unlocked
They're in there, too. It's not a mutually exclusive list, nor even an exclusive list seeing as it's a rather low bar to enter through a hard coded back door which has remained unlocked for decades.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 30 2025, @02:06AM (19 children)
What fucking evidence?? We (you) have absolutely no confirmation is a Chinese operation. All you have are official press releases and internet rumors, spread by the same government.
(Score: 4, Informative) by janrinok on Wednesday July 30 2025, @06:55AM (18 children)
So what you are really asking for is for NSA, GCHQ, and the other 5-Eyes community members release highly classified information which would compromise techniques and sources just so that you can sit back and say that you now understand what "Salt Typhoon" is? Have you tried Google?
The purpose of the demand to see the documents is so that at least the senators can see how the conclusion was reached and how far the telecoms network was compromised. They are your representatives, whether you like that or not.
I can see why you posted that anonymously.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 30 2025, @11:55PM (17 children)
So despite all the treachery and lies over the decades, are you really saying we should trust them, especially now with all the crazies in change? I guess some lessons will never be learned, just keep the game running
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Thursday July 31 2025, @05:10AM (16 children)
You will have to start somewhere - otherwise you will be back with the cavemen again.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 31 2025, @02:32PM (15 children)
Wow! That has to be one of the worst excuses I have heard in a long time. But you're right! We do have to start somewhere, with ourselves. We have to accept that we put the freaks in charge. Until that happens, I sure as hell am not going to cut the NSA, et al any slack. They are a symptom of our own madness
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Thursday July 31 2025, @02:52PM (14 children)
You are all talk and no action. So what are YOU going to do?
You keep repeating your claims in many of the stories that we publish. Yes, we have heard you. We understand how you feel. But ruining other discussions is not the way to achieve lasting change. You are in a hole. Telling others that it is their fault isn't going to change anything overnight. Start from where you are now. Not some imaginary point in the future that is most unlikely to ever occur.
Now, either do something positive or shut up please.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 31 2025, @04:16PM (13 children)
I've already laid it out. You just chooses not to read, so, back at ya...
Obviously you don't, or your response would be entirely different. Instead you engage in the same blame passing that has been going on for years, in total denial of where it belongs.
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Thursday July 31 2025, @06:24PM (12 children)
So. let us imagine that all the people who access this site are USians - they are not, but let us imagine that they are. Lets us also assume that they all agree with you (they don't). Let us also double that number for fun. That is another 500 votes that you will get for independents at the next election. So you just need a few tens of millions more. What are you going to do to persuade those people to change how they vote?
Now that is a start - if the next election is going to be fair. But it isn't. The current government is already revising the voting areas to give them more seats - or at least to prevent them from ever being able to effectively vote for anyone else who stands a chance of winning. How do you plan to address that?
How are you so sure that there will be another election? Is it because that is supposed to be what will happen? Get your head from up your backside. They have various ways (documented in 2025 Plan) of ensuring that the election does not happen unless the outcome can be guaranteed to be favourable to themselves. Can you not see what is happening in your own country? Judges who speak out against the current government in any way that worries those currently in power are silenced by intimidation or false accusations. They are removed from their posts. The Supreme Court is in Trump's pocket. The Constitution is now toilet paper. The protests and banners have achieved nothing but a warm feeling for a few who think that they 'are speaking out' and who believe it will change the future. People that the government don't like are being 'cleansed', removed, or placed in concentration camps.
YOU have all fucked up your country. Not them - but YOU too. Get over it. You have dug a big hole. You are losing your friends and allies. You are getting involved in more conflicts than you had before, and creating potentially yet more for the future. You haven't got a clue on how to address what is happening. Don't lecture this community on what 'they' have done wrong - YOU have done this too. But it is too late for recriminations. Sort it out.
If you are not convinced, name the independent politician that you voted for at the last election who now represents you anywhere in today's government. Go on - we can wait. Until then, stop telling everyone else what they should do in stories that are unconnected to your views. The only bit you have got correct is that you have all brought this on yourselves. You elected a felon with a long series of bankruptcies behind him who can see nothing more than making himself, his family, and his friends rich. You let it happen....
This story, or any other, is not your soapbox - use your journal!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 31 2025, @10:40PM (11 children)
Just need around 20% to replace the incumbents with independents to break the monopoly, don't need 100%, don't need 50%
Yes, we the collective, have fucked up our country. Why are you in such denial over it? You anger is misplaced, and kinda weird, accusing me of doing things I recommend people don't do, like reelecting felons, etc.. You obviously continue to misread what I post. Why you do this is still a mystery to me. You are actually saying exactly what I said
Yeah, well, that is the elephant in the room, isn't it? And despite my attempts to shine the light on it, it remains invisible, by individual choice, not by a malevolent government. Sorry, but your response is totally off base.
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Friday August 01 2025, @04:22AM (8 children)
You have repeatedly done it several times in the comments to this story, and in several other stories. Please stop it. It is off-topic in every story and it is becoming repetitive. We have read what you have written. Nobody cares to argue with you. The problem is that many Americans think that what is happening is a good idea.
If you want to discuss it further put it in your journal. If you want to change how the American people vote then go elsewhere to do it. Do something - not just talk about it. Stop hijacking other stories.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 01 2025, @04:44AM (7 children)
When people constantly and repetitively whine about their government, word for word from decades past (we have heard nothing new since Bush, or even Reagan), they need to be reminded where its dysfunction and corruption originates, and that they have to fix it themselves. I'm not hijacking anything, and you are still grossly misreading, even while repeating, what I write, which is more fascinating than whatever it is we're talking about, I mean, you do this every time you jump into the middle of discussion without checking previous comments. Wazzup with that?
(Score: 2, Funny) by janrinok on Friday August 01 2025, @05:54AM (6 children)
This is a story about a security issue. It is nothing to do with your views about past elections.
They don't "need to be reminded where its dysfunction and corruption originates" in places where your comments are off-topic. For the last time - put it in your journal.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 01 2025, @05:51PM (5 children)
The security is only an issue because of our vote. We made it an issue by our own negligence and apathy. It is very much on topic. The truth is just too ugly for you to bear. Your downmodding is unjustified, but don't let that stop you
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Saturday August 02 2025, @07:25AM (4 children)
We have covered the Salt series (Salt Typhoon, etc) and the Volt series (Volt Typhoon, etc) in previous discussions. That they originate in China, have links to specific Chinese military units, and their activities are facts that are well documented.
This was not just an attack on the US infrastructure. It also affected other countries around the world (UK, Germany, Australia and many others). Now, unless Americans are responsible for electing those in power in all of those countries too it is entirely unconnected with who has been in the US Government either now or in the last decade or so. It has nothing to do with how the US population has voted. It will not be changed by modifying how people elect future representatives at all levels. The common link is that they all used the same communications hardware. Those other countries are already replacing it and in some cases have completed the task - the US hasn't.
I have not denied the situation that you now find yourself in. In fact, I have clearly stated that YOU are all responsible for your Government. and it is up to you to sort it out. Expecting another election to provide a different outcome is a dream on your part. There are already major changes taking place in your Judiciary, the respect for the Constitution, the removal of basic freedoms from all Americans, voting redistricting etc. These changes are designed to ensure that the outcome of future elections is already decided. But that is NOT the topic under discussion. It has been discussed at length elsewhere.
Trump has disbanded the team responsible for investigating this breach of the US' security, probably because it was a legacy of the previous President. There will be no final report. The senator is trying to obtain whatever information is available so that the public can be informed of the level of the intrusion, and its implications. That is exactly what I would expect a senator to do. They are there to serve the people - not a specific President.
People on this site are complaining that many discussions have become political rather than sticking to the story topic. YOU are one of the people who is intentionally doing this in various stories and journals. Please stop. Stop hiding behind your imagined anonymity (others have already identified you) - post your thoughts in your journal. You are being an ass.
So I will moderate you as I see fit. You are off-topic.
(Score: 0, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 02 2025, @05:48PM (3 children)
By whom? Has any of it been cross examined, or is it taken at face value? Again, the sources of your info have been proven to be untrustworthy. And there is little to no demand to verify anything, or for any real transparency. Hence the problem will continue indefinitely, until WE choose to act.
Merely repeating what I have said from the very beginning. So what are you arguing about?
:-) of course you will, very amusing.
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Saturday August 02 2025, @06:52PM (2 children)
Because you keep repeating it in different discussions and it is off-topic. Discuss the story, not your personal and irrelevant political views.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 02 2025, @09:45PM (1 child)
Not at all. I just go to the root of the problem being discussed, without all the superficial emotional clickbait that so enthralls people. You are perfectly free to ignore the comments like the others do
(Score: 4, Funny) by janrinok on Sunday August 03 2025, @03:03AM
Like everyone else with an account, I am also free to moderate your comments.
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Friday August 01 2025, @04:25AM (1 child)
I am not! The rest of the world (ie non-USians, of which I am but one) think that you are all to blame. But you seem unwilling to address the problem in a way that will resolve it.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 01 2025, @05:57PM
I'm addressing it the only way it can be resolved, through our vote. There is no other way, without using a gun. You meanwhile, continue to float down that river in Egypt, as your excited response confirms.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Gaaark on Wednesday July 30 2025, @12:06AM (4 children)
So... politicians can DEMAND a corporation(s) do something and be ignored, but DAMN, if you harvest crops for a living, you can be plucked off the street by masked men and deported and THAT'S OKAY!
Who has the REAL power in the US?
"Ee'd Plebnista"?...nerp.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. I have always been here. ---Gaaark 2.0 --
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 30 2025, @02:14AM (3 children)
Yes, the people. They voted for this with eyes wide shut, and are letting it happen, took decades to get where we are, but the path was always clear.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Wednesday July 30 2025, @10:51PM (2 children)
Unfortunately, with half the Americans being stupid as sticks, the Corporations are STILL the ones with the power.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. I have always been here. ---Gaaark 2.0 --
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 30 2025, @11:36PM
Yes, but the power is given, by the people, not taken. What people won't admit is that we make/let it happen, and nobody is going to stop it but us. There is no alternative
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 02 2025, @02:27AM
It ain't the quantity of Government that's the problem it's the quality. And if you have a government that's about as a bad as an average corporation, given that it's the government and not the corps that are restricted by those "Amendments", you might want more areas controlled by the government not less.
You already have all those people with guns to fight against the government if it's oppressive right? 🤣
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 30 2025, @12:55AM
> CISA caves to Wyden, agrees to release US telco insecurity report - but won’t say when
https://www.theregister.com/2025/07/29/cisa_wyden_us_telecoms_insecurity_report/ [theregister.com]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by bzipitidoo on Wednesday July 30 2025, @02:40PM (1 child)
I used to think governing was about evaluating data to come to rational decisions. But this discounts the tremendous amount of lying and deception that goes on everywhere. I now think the main problem is dealing with lies and bull, and unreasonable expectations. A career in politics sounds very uncomfortable, telling voters what they want to hear, with some disregard of fact or the common good, then turning around and trying to get the truth from organizations who act like naughty children in not wanting to fess up, and who are quite creative in evasion and persuasion with bribes and threats.
The judicial system seems designed to cut through bull and lies as much as possible. It is of course corruptible. But that's its reason for being.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 30 2025, @11:47PM
Our system is based on its appeal to the beast. "Rational" is a very weak force
(Score: 3, Funny) by DannyB on Wednesday July 30 2025, @03:47PM
The senator will be pleased to know that the Chinese have definitely secured AT&T's and Verizon's networks.
The senator suggests that all encryption be upgraded to ROT17 because 17 is a prime number, unlike 13.
Maybe off shore oil platforms could be re-porpoised for space rocket launches.