Washington - Beijing: Agencies
The Wall Street Journal reported that Chinese hackers were able to access the networks of broadband providers in the United States, and obtained information from systems used by the federal government to eavesdrop on phone calls with judicial approval.
The newspaper said, citing people familiar with the matter, that Verizon Communications, AT&T and Lumen Technologies are among the telecommunications companies whose networks were hacked, which was recently discovered.
The newspaper believes that the hackers may have been able to access the network infrastructure used by the companies to cooperate with court-authorized US requests for communications data for months.
It added that the hackers were also able to access other segments of Internet traffic.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment.
Beijing has in the past denied allegations by the US government and others that it used hackers to penetrate foreign computer systems.
Verizon Communications, AT&T and Lumen Technologies did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Wall Street Journal said the attack was carried out by a Chinese hacking group with the aim of “gathering intelligence.”

US investigators have dubbed the attack “Salt Hurricane.”

Earlier this year, US law enforcement authorities successfully disrupted a major Chinese hacking group called “Flax Hurricane,” months after Beijing confronted them over mass cyberespionage in a campaign dubbed “Volt Hurricane.”