Less than a month since major U.S. telecommunication companies such were attacked by Chinese hackers that breached systems used by U.S. intelligence to conduct wiretaps, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio is warning officials of future threats, calling it a "very serious situation."
Rubio, who is part of the Senate's Intelligence Committee, said recent attempts from Chinese nationals to tamper with U.S. telecommunication companies is cause for wider concern of national security.
"It's a very serious situation that we face. And I think one that is quite threatening, maybe not directly to the election per se, but certainly to the national security of our country moving forward," Rubio said.
The October hack was first reported by the Wall Street Journal and it was attributed to the group known as "Salt Typhoon," whose members hit numerous companies including Verizon, AT&T and Lumen Technologies. The hackers targeted U.S. surveillance capabilities used for operations, with U.S. officials fearful that the Chinese hackers were able to access information about ongoing investigations through the collection of sensitive data and techniques.
Although no information has been yet revealed about the extent of the security breach, Rubio argues that the attack was an "egregious, outrageous and dangerous breach of our telecommunications systems," and was not an isolated issue.
In August, Former President Donald Trump's campaign said some of its internal communications were hacked by foreign sources. The breach was first reported by Politico after the outlet received emails from an anonymous source with documents related to the Trump campaign.
In a post on his Truth Social account, Trump claimed Microsoft confirmed to his campaign that one of their websites was hacked by Iran.
More recently, in October, Microsoft's Threat Analysis team issued a seven-page report on how foreign sources from Russia, Iran and China were trying to interfere with the 2024 U.S. elections.
The investigation noted Iranian sources focused their cyber-influence operations on the Trump campaign, while Russian actors shifted towards the Kamala Harris campaign once she entered the race. Microsoft said cyber-attackers used generative AI into their U.S. election influence efforts, including the creation of a political deepfake of Vice President Harris.
Senator Rubio was one of those officials targeted. Microsoft said they noticed Chinese influence operations targeting Rubio intermittently since the lead up to the 2022 midterm elections.
With the rise of cyberattacks, other U.S. lawmakers have urged officials to set mandatory, uniform security standards in place for telecom companies wiretapping systems.
Oregon Senator Ron Wyden urged the Justice Department and Federal Communications Commission to set new rules to protect U.S. intelligence, saying recent hacks should serve as a "wake-up call" for the government.
"The outdated regulatory framework and DOJ's failed approach to combating cyberattacks by protecting negligent corporations must be addressed. The security of our nation's communications infrastructure is paramount, and the government must act now to rectify these longstanding vulnerabilities," Wyden said in a letter to FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel and Attorney General Merrick Garland.
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