MANAMA, Bahrain, Dec 7 (Reuters) – The U.S. believes that an alleged sweeping Chinese cyber espionage marketing campaign referred to as Salt Typhoon focused and recorded phone calls of “very senior” American political figures, a White House official mentioned on Saturday.
The feedback by Anne Neuberger, the U.S. deputy nationwide safety advisor for cyber and rising know-how, to reporters on the Manama Dialogue regional safety convention in Bahrain’s capital revealed new particulars of the marketing campaign.
While a lot of Americans’ metadata doubtless has been stolen, U.S. officers perceive that “the aim of the operation was extra targeted,” Neuberger mentioned.
“We consider … the precise variety of calls that they took, recorded and took, was actually extra targeted on very senior political people,” she continued.
She didn’t elaborate, together with revealing the identities of those that have been focused.
Chinese officers beforehand have described the allegations as disinformation and mentioned that Beijing “firmly opposes and combats cyber assaults and cyber theft in all kinds.”
“We’re nonetheless investigating the scope and scale” of the hacking marketing campaign, Neuberger mentioned.
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Reporting by Alexander Cornwell; Writing by Jonathan Landay; Editing by Paul Simao
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
