The breach of Singtel was seen as a test run for more hacks against US telecommunications companies.
SINGAPORE – Singapore Telecommunications, Singapore’s largest mobile carrier, was breached by Chinese state-sponsored hackers this summer as part of a broader campaign against telecommunications companies and other critical infrastructure operators around the world, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The breach of Singtel, a carrier with operations throughout South-east Asia and Australia, was seen as a test run by China for further hacks against US telecommunications companies, and information from the attack has provided clues about the expanding scope of suspected Chinese attacks against critical infrastructure abroad, including in the US, the people said.
The US is currently battling its own suspected Chinese attacks of political campaigns and telecommunications companies. Officials have described the telecom breaches as one of the most damaging campaigns on record by suspected Chinese hackers and one that they are still seeking to fully understand and contain.
In August, researchers at Lumen Technologies Inc said in a blog post they assessed with “moderate confidence” that Volt Typhoon had used such a web shell. A sample of the malware was first uploaded to VirusTotal, a popular site for security experts to research malicious code, on June 7 by an unidentified entity in Singapore, according to Lumen researchers.
A spokesperson for the National Security Council last week referred to the “ongoing investigation and mitigation efforts”, but directed further questions to the FBI and Cisa. There is evidence that Salt Typhoon reached the US at least as early as spring 2024, and possibly long before, and investigators tracking the group think it has infiltrated other telecommunications companies throughout Asia, including in Indonesia, Nepal, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, according to two people familiar with those efforts.
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