China Hacked FBI Surveillance Data While America Was Busy Cutting Its Cyber Defenses
The FBI has declared a suspected Chinese cyber intrusion into a U.S. government surveillance system a “major incident,” posing direct risks to national security. Sensitive law enforcement data was compromised, and lawmakers were recently informed.
The intrusion used tactics identical to Salt Typhoon — a Chinese hacking campaign that penetrated major U.S. telecom providers, obtained phone records from millions of Americans, and directly stole FBI wiretap data.
Uncovered in 2024, Salt Typhoon breached 8 domestic telecom and internet service providers and dozens globally. It accessed CALEA systems — the federal law requiring telecoms to surveil conversations under court order.
Despite Salt Typhoon’s global exposure and Trump’s upcoming Beijing visit to ease tensions, Chinese hackers kept targeting the U.S. “Their hacking continues with impunity,” a former cybersecurity official warned. “They’re bold.”
Sen. Mark Warner warned the pattern is clear — adversaries are actively finding weaknesses. He stated that cybersecurity staff cutbacks across the government are dangerously “hollowing out” America’s digital defenses at the worst possible moment.
Former FBI cyber official Cynthia Kaiser confirmed that China consistently targets law enforcement intercepts to identify, track, and monitor targets worldwide — and this breach directly and precisely serves those long-running intelligence-gathering goals.
