Chinese Cyber Espionage Targets US Congressional Emails in Salt Typhoon Campaign

Chinese Cyber Espionage Compromises US Congressional Emails

According to the Financial Times, Chinese intelligence services have breached email systems within key US Congressional committees as part of a cyber-espionage campaign known as Salt Typhoon. This operation, orchestrated by the Ministry of State Security (MSS), has targeted email accounts from committees involved in China policy, foreign affairs, intelligence, and defense.

Key Takeaways

• US Congressional email systems have been hacked by Chinese intelligence as part of the Salt Typhoon operation.
• The breach affected email accounts from committees focused on China policy, foreign affairs, intelligence, and defense.

Salt Typhoon is a longstanding MSS initiative aimed at monitoring US telecommunications and email communications. Despite considering sanctions against Beijing last year, US officials refrained due to diplomatic concerns. Chinese authorities have dismissed these allegations as politically driven.