An unusually broad coalition composed of the United States, its
traditional English-speaking allies, and other nations including Germany, Italy and Japan is calling out three Chinese companies over alleged hacking activity.
In a 37-page advisory published on Wednesday, the countries accused the firms, Sichuan Juxinhe Network Technol
ogy, Beijing Huanyu Tianqiong Information Technology, and Sichuan Zhixin Ruijie Network Technology, of providing “cyber-related products and services to C
hina’s intelligence services, including multiple units in the People’s Liberation Army and Ministry of State Security.”
Sichuan Juxinhe has already been sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury over its alleged ties to the hacking group
nicknamed “Salt Typhoon,” which has been accused of gobbli
ng up vast amounts of Americans’ call records, including communications from senior leadership in Washington. Beijin
g Huanyu Tianqiong and Sichuan Zhixin Ruijie were both allegedly hit by recent and so far unexplained data leaks.
Previous attempts to reach Sichuan Juxinhe have been unsuccessful. Reuters could not immediately loc
ate contact information for the other two firms. Beijing typically denies s
anctioning cyber-espionage activity.
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Although U.S. officials have been complaining of China-linked hacking activity for decades, the breaches attribut
ed to Salt Typhoon have stood out as particularly sweeping. One senator last year described its scope as “mind-boggling.” Anot
her said it likely represented “the largest telecommunications hack in our nation’s history.”
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal published on Wednesday, the FBI’s top cyber official, Brett L
eatherman, said that Salt Typhoon was responsible for “one of the more consequential cyber espionage breach
es we have seen here in the United States.” The Journal said the hack
ers targeted more than 80 countries and had shown varying levels of interest in more than 600 companies.
The United States regularly calls out specific Chinese and other foreign entities over their alleged involvement in cyber espionage, and it has occasionally done so in conjunction with other members of the “Five Eyes” intelligence alliance: Australia, Britain, Canada, and New Zealand. Wednesday’s statement was cosigned by the latter, as well as by Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland and Spain.