According to Burgess, a hacker group known as Volt Typhoon is trying to break into critical infrastructure networks such as power, water, and transportation systems. Burgess warned that successful hacks could affect energy and water supplies, and cause widespread outages. The U.S. has previously said that the Chinese hackers have spent years planting malware on critical infrastructure systems that are capable of causing disruptive cyberattacks when activated.
Last year almost a dozen major U.S. ISPs were the victim of a massive, historic intrusion by Chinese hackers who managed to spy on public U.S. officials for more than a year. The "Salt Typhoon" hack was so severe, the intruders spent much of the last year rooting around the ISP networks even after discovery. AT&T and Verizon, two of the compromised companies, apparently didn't think it was worth informing subscribers any of this happened.
Senior Transmission Architect Nic Breytenbach explained that apparent contradiction to The Register by pointing out that submarine cables run up and down Africa's east and west coasts, but that no single connection crosses the continent. When submarine cables on the east coast - which mostly carry traffic to Europe or Asia - experience trouble, carriers must route traffic south around the Cape of Good Hope, then all the way up Africa's west coast. Capacity on submarine cables is hard to find, and expensive when available.
Does anyone enjoy getting text messages from scanners on their phones? The answer, presumably, is "No," with the possible exception of a very specific variety of masochist. And with that in mind, wireless carriers have taken steps to make it harder for scammers to use their services, with the FCC issuing guidance to that effect in 2023. What happens when a scammer can't use wireless infrastructure? As an alarming new report reveals, they make their own.