In late 2024, headlines reported that China had successfully executed a massive, long-term hack into the American Telecom network.

But it came at a time when anti-Chinese sentiment was on the rise in the United States,

and many were looking for charges to throw against them.

Were these headlines just propaganda, or did this hack actually happen?

We're going to find out today on Skeptoid.

You're listening to Skeptoid. I'm Brian Dunning from Skeptoid.com.

Salt Typhoon, the Chinese phone hack.

Welcome to the show that separates fact from fiction, science from pseudoscience, real history from fake history, and helps us all make better life decisions by knowing what's real and what's not.

In late 2024, news outlets worldwide reported that investigators had discovered a widespread

Chinese cyber attack against American cell phone networks. Many described it as the largest

such breach in history.

When it was found that Donald Trump, J.D. Vance, Kamala Harris, and many of their staffers were included in the attack,

a lot of people figured this was part of a coordinated scheme to influence the outcome of the U.S. election.

It also took place during the escalating trade war between the United States and China,

and some interpreted that it was Chinese retaliation for the trade war. The hacker group was called Salt Typhoon, and today we're going to take a deep dive into it and see what it was really about

and not about.

Salt Typhoon is the name given by Microsoft Security Researchers to a large and versatile group of hackers in China.

We don't know what they might call themselves, if anything,

but they are known to be a Chinese contractor

often used by China's Ministry of State Security.

Salt Typhoon has infiltrated computer systems, not just in the United States, but in dozens of

countries. They sometimes steal corporate intellectual property and conduct lots of attacks

...