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<\/div>\nViasat Inc. is the latest US communications company identified as a victim of the sweeping surveillance hack blamed on the Chinese government that emerged during last year\u2019s presidential campaign, according to people familiar with the matter.<\/p>\n
The breach of the California-headquartered satellite and wireless networking company was discovered earlier this year and Viasat has been working with the government in the aftermath, some of the people said. Verizon Communications Inc., AT&T Inc. and Lumen Technologies were previously identified as being hit by the attack.<\/p>\n
The surveillance campaign, run by a group that Microsoft Corp. dubbed \u201cSalt Typhoon,\u201d was one of the broadest and most sophisticated hacks carried out by Chinese state-affiliated attackers, US officials say. It swept up tens of millions of phone records, including those of then-presidential candidate Donald Trump and members of both campaigns.<\/p>\n
\u201cViasat and its independent third-party cybersecurity partner investigated a report of unauthorized access through a compromised device,\u201d the company said in a statement. \u201cUpon completing a thorough investigation, no evidence was found to suggest any impact to customers.\u201d<\/p>\n
It did not address any impact on its networks but in a follow-up statement said additional information on the government\u2019s investigation was too sensitive to share publicly.<\/p>\n
\u201cViasat believes that the incident has been remediated and has not detected any recent activity related to this event,\u201d the company said.<\/p>\n
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has been working with targeted companies. Brett Leatherman, the new head of the FBI\u2019s cyber division, declined to comment on the identity of the hack\u2019s victims, including Viasat, when asked in a recent interview.<\/p>\n
But he said the operation enabled hackers to gain access to tools used by US law enforcement to monitor and surveil persons of interest, as well as to collect call records and compromise the communications of people in government and politics.<\/p>\n
Viasat provides in-flight internet for commercial jets and communications support \u201cacross air, land, and sea\u201d for governments around the world, according to its website. It also reported having about 257,000 home internet subscribers last summer, and competes with the likes of SpaceX\u2019s Starlink and EchoStar\u2019s Boost Mobile to provide direct-to-cellular mobile service.<\/p>\n
\u2018Direct Involvement\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n Viasat was previously hit by a cyberattack about an hour before Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. The primary target was thought to be the Ukrainian military, the UK\u2019s National Cyber Security Centre said<\/a> at the time, but thousands of customers in Ukraine and elsewhere in Europe were affected by the outage. Months later, the US joined the UK and other European allies to accuse<\/a> Russia of being behind the operation.<\/p>\n Beijing has repeatedly denied US allegations of its involvement in Salt Typhoon, which was first reported by The Wall Street Journal last year. In January, the US sanctioned<\/a> a Chinese firm accused of \u201cdirect involvement\u201d in the infiltrations along with the country\u2019s Ministry of State Security.<\/p>\n After months of investigation to establish targets and track the numbers that were spied on, the FBI says it now has firmer estimates of how many people were impacted since they began investigating: some 100 million records belonging to 1.3 million users, mostly in the Washington, DC area.<\/p>\n Much of the Salt Typhoon activity they discover is \u2018historical\u2019 in nature, Leatherman said in his first interview since taking on the role. The actors appear to have gone dormant since the revelations.<\/p>\n \u201cJust because we don\u2019t see it every day, doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s not there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Leatherman said the FBI also continues to see an international nexus to the activity.<\/p>\n \u201cSince we opened this investigation last year, we have been very engaged with our Five Eyes partners and our partners abroad, Europe in particular,\u201d he said, referring to the intelligence partnership the US has with the UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.<\/p>\n \u2018Every Field Office\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n Leatherman also said there\u2019s been \u201cno reduction in resources\u201d to the FBI\u2019s cyber division, even after the agency saw several high-profile departures in recent weeks, including its most senior cyber officials. \u201cWe still have cyber task forces in every field office,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Elsewhere in government, the absence of cyber officials is glaring and could prove problematic in probes into any future widespread hacks.<\/p>\n Top personnel at the National Security Agency were fired in April and have yet to be formally replaced, and there are delays in the confirmation of people to lead the Office of the National Cyber Director and the Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency, the government\u2019s cyber agency.<\/p>\n The Cyber Safety Review Board, which was probing the Salt Typhoon hack, was dissolved soon after Inauguration Day. It\u2019s unclear whether the board will re-form or what the status of the investigation is. The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n At the FBI, Leatherman said FBI Director Kash Patel has made countering the Chinese Communist Party a top priority.<\/p>\n Hacks such as the one by Salt Typhoon are \u201cdeliberate campaigns with geopolitical consequences, especially when you look at them in the aggregate,\u201d he said. \u201cThey can take this data and put it together and come up with a better intelligence picture, which is what the CCP wants.\u201d<\/p>\n Photo: Photographer: Al Drago\/Bloomberg<\/em><\/p>\n Topics<\/span> Cyber<\/a> China<\/a> <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Was this article valuable?<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n