Cantwell claims telecoms blocked release of Salt Typhoon report

Source Domain: cyberscoop.com

More than a year after national security officials revealed that Chinese hackers had systematically infiltrated U.S. telecommunications networks, the top Senate Democrat on the committee overseeing the industry is calling for hearings with executives from the nation’s biggest telecom companies.

In a public letter released Tuesday, Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., called for the CEOs of Verizon and AT&T to appear before Congress and explain how the hacking group known as Salt Typhoon breached their networks, as well as what steps they’ve taken to prevent another intrusion.

“For months, I have sought specific documentation from AT&T and Verizon that would purportedly corroborate their claims that their networks are now secure from this attack,” Cantwell wrote to Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who is the Chair of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. “Unfortunately, both AT&T and Verizon have chosen not to cooperate, which raises serious questions about the extent to which Americans who use these networks remain exposed to unacceptable risk.”

Salt Typhoon’s intrusion into telecom networks exposed major security weaknesses and put sensitive communications and data belonging to U.S. politicians and policymakers at risk. The federal government has done little since to hold the industry publicly accountable.

Congress has neither proposed or passed meaningful legislation to address the issue. While a handful of federal departments and agencies began public regulatory and oversight reviews, most of those efforts have been shut down or rolled back.

An investigation by the Cyber Safety Review Board at the Department of Homeland Security into the intrusions was abruptly stopped when the Trump administration eliminated the advisory body. One former member remarked recently that the failure to finish the investigation ranked among her biggest career regrets.

Weeks before President Joe Biden left office, his Federal…

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