“They’re still there and we don’t know how to drive them away,” he said.
Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) told attendees at the McCain Institute’s Sedona Forum on May 3 that China’s communist regime still has access to nine US telecom companies hacked in December 2024 during the salt typhoon cyber invasion coordinated by China’s Department of National Security.
“They made it very difficult for us to detect that they were there and not do anything typical of malware,” he explained to the panel moderator.
“It was done using access to routers and many sophisticated techniques. As you said, it was China’s Ministry of National Security that coordinated this operation. They are still there and we haven’t found a way to kick them off yet.”
The FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) identified the hacks in October 2024 and began investigating them.
“It would be impossible to predict that we would be evicted entirely,” Green said at the time.
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By December 27th, the number of compromised telecom companies had increased to nine.
Kelly sat on the Senate Intelligence Email Committee and told the audience that restructuring the US communications infrastructure to prevent hackers from gaining access remains a topic of conversation among fellow committee members.
One of the issues with current communications infrastructure in the country is how it has evolved organically over time.
“Someone built the system and someone improved it,” Kelly said. They added technology to it, and today we are integrating this collazing system from multiple companies using different types of equipment that are easily accessible from the enemy.
Although it was reported that Volt Typhoon was demolished in January 2024, Kelly said the CCP’s Department of National Security “still have access to some of these systems,” emphasizing that such penetration also applies to the country’s ability to mobilize against communist China.
He and his fellow panelist Sue Gordon, former Director of National Intelligence, and former terrorist and homeland security adviser Francis Flagstownsend, stressed the need for the federal government to lead the way in developing the cybersecurity needed. They also said there is no clear definition of when cyberattacks are considered an act of war yet.
In the meantime, the senators advised the crowd on how to proceed with their communications.
“If you’re in any sensitive position, be aware that there are people who are gathering information about who all your connections are. In many cases, there are probably foreign enemies in this room that have access to your phone and you don’t know about it,” he said. “There’s a way to kick them off. The easiest way is to keep your software up to date and turn off your phone.”
Frank Fan contributed to this report.
