The FBI Director, Chris Patel, is leading an offensive aimed at identifying, neutralizing, and expelling the clandestine presence of actors linked to Beijing, both in the cyber realm and in covert operations.
The global 'Salt Typhoon' campaign exposes that cyber warfare is no longer a future scenario but an active battlefield where rival powers dispute control, information, and strategic pressure capabilities.
During the massive intrusion recorded in December 2024, then-Deputy National Security Advisor Anne Neuberger had already warned that Beijing was using these accesses to intercept private communications of key strategic leaders.
However, the immediate concern is not what the group might do in the future, but what could continue to happen within agencies and companies that have not yet detected the infiltration.
The former official emphasized that the operation was not limited to the passive extraction of data but allowed Beijing to create a detailed map of private communications, including calls, messages, and movement patterns.
From the private sector, the diagnosis is just as alarming. "What is critical is not the next intrusion, but what they are doing right now and who they are targeting."
Meanwhile, the U.S. government continues to intensify its efforts to counter Chinese influence on its own soil.
The operation, attributed to the group known as 'Salt Typhoon,' spanned five years, compromised sensitive systems of the federal government, the military sphere, transportation, telecommunications, and essential services, and is believed to have been replicated in numerous countries.
A joint report issued in September by the FBI, the National Security Agency (NSA), and international intelligence agencies warned that the cyberattackers—presumably three Chinese companies working for the People's Liberation Army and the Ministry of State Security—managed to infiltrate networks that support central aspects of daily life in the United States.
Washington, November 30, 2025 – Total News Agency-TNA – The scale of the cyberattack carried out by actors linked to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) against U.S. critical infrastructure is so vast that, according to former FBI officials, it is "hard to imagine" that any American citizen was unaffected.
The objective: to monitor communications, track movements, and gain access to strategic information of officials, politicians, and critical structures.
Cynthia Kaiser, former deputy head of the FBI's Cyber Division, was blunt in her statements to the New York Times: "I can't imagine that any American has been spared, given the breadth of the campaign."
"My biggest concern is that they remain in various organizations without being detected," alerted Nicoletti.
And for Washington, the diagnosis is clear: the attack not only compromised critical infrastructure but also revealed a deep internal security failure that directly or indirectly affected millions of American citizens.
Pete Nicoletti, head of security at Check Point, described the degree of intrusion as "unprecedented," noting that the 'Salt Typhoon' actors had "free rein" for years.
While many ordinary Americans were affected incidentally, Nicoletti confirmed that high-profile figures—including Donald Trump, J.D. Vance, Kamala Harris, and dozens of government officials—were direct targets.
Researchers maintain that the operation included the identification of device owners to select targets of interest to the Chinese government.
