Senator says that the hacking of US government officials' telecoms is "the worst in history" and that 'the barn doors are still wide open'.

US authorities recently revealed that a hacking attack on US telecommunications networks had compromised the systems of multiple communications companies.

The FBI and CISA issued a joint statement this month identifying the "PRC (People's Republic of China),-affiliated actors as the cause of hack. According to the US government, the hack enabled the theft of call records and led "to the compromise of private communications of limited individuals who are primarily engaged in government or political activities."

Mark Warner, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and a former executive in the telecommunications industry, said that "the barn door remains wide open or mostly open" following the hack (via The New York Times). He also called it the "worst telecomms hacking in our nation's historical record."

Unconfirmed reports surfaced last month that hackers affiliated with the campaign of Democratic Presidential candidate Kamalah Harris, Donald Trump, and JD Vance (his running mate), had infiltrated the US telecomms provider Verizon.

The hack appears to be more widespread now than initially thought. The NYT reports that hackers initially used stolen passwords to target a system which records telephone conversations and text messages under court orders. However, the hack has now spread across multiple networks in the United States by exploiting "aging hardware and seams between disparate systems."

Warner said, "This makes SolarWinds and Colonial Pipeline look like small potatoes".

The hackers were said be part of Salt Typhoon group, which has reportedly links to the Chinese Government. The PRC has denied US government claims that it uses hackers in order to break into foreign network.

Since the hacking was exposed, it appears that the intruders have ceased to exist. Senator Warner, however, seems to believe that the threat is not over. He told The Washington Post that China is continuing to try to infiltrate the telecom systems of other countries and exfiltrate large amounts of data.

At this point, it's unclear how many telecommunications companies were affected. Warner says that to remove the hackers from the system, "thousands" of pieces of equipment will have to be replaced across the country, including older models routers and switches.

"Unlike some European countries, where you may have a single telco company, our networks are a hodgepodge old networks." The big networks are a combination of many acquisitions and there is equipment that's too old to be patched.

The hacker is believed to have not affected encrypted communications, which could be a comfort to those targeted who used platforms such as WhatsApp or Signal to communicate. The extent of this breach makes it seem like it will be difficult to close the hole in the US communication system.