There are new details about the depth of Chinese hacking operations targeting the American telecommunications sector and what the federal government says must be done to fight back.
White House Deputy National Security Adviser Anne Neuberger said Wednesday that at least eight U.S. telecom firms and dozens of nations have been impacted by the Chinese campaign, believed to have given officials in Beijing access to private texts and phone conversations of an unknown number of Americans.
The revelations came as U.S. and international cyber officials pushed the use of digital encryption to protect against the suspected Chinese operations. Mr. Lovelace has all the details on the joint guidance issued by U.S. officials and their allies in Australia, Canada and New Zealand. The joint guidance calls on information technology professionals to harden their networks in response to the alleged Chinese hacking, which targeted AT&T, Verizon and other top companies.
The new guidance for network engineers recommends using encryption “to the maximum extent possible” and to have as little connection to the internet as acceptable.
“If feasible, limit exposure of management traffic to the internet,” the officials’ guidance said. “Only allow management via a limited and enforced network path, ideally only directly from dedicated administrative workstations.”
Such advocacy in favor of encryption represents a significant departure for the FBI, which helped author the guidance alongside the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and National Security Agency.
The FBI had long been among the strongest opponents of digital encryption in the U.S. for years, concerned that the technology prevents the bureau from catching criminals.
