Viasat Identified as Victim in Sweeping Phone Hack Tied to China

A Viasat internet satellite dish in the yard of a house in Madison, Virginia. Photo by Al Drago /Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg

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(Bloomberg) — Viasat Inc. is the latest US communications company identified as a victim of the sweeping surveillance hack blamed on the Chinese government that emerged during last year’s presidential campaign, according to people familiar with the matter.

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The breach of the California-headquartered satellite and wireless networking company was discovered earlier this year and Viasat has been working with the government in the aftermath, some of the people said. Verizon Communications Inc., AT&T Inc. and Lumen Technologies were previously identified as being hit by the attack.

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The surveillance campaign, run by a group that Microsoft Corp. dubbed “Salt Typhoon,” was one of the broadest and most sophisticated hacks carried out by Chinese state-affiliated attackers, US officials say. It swept up tens of millions of phone records, including those of then-presidential candidate Donald Trump and members of both campaigns.

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“Viasat and its independent third-party cybersecurity partner investigated a report of unauthorized access through a compromised device,” the company said in a statement. “Upon completing a thorough investigation, no evidence was found to suggest any impact to customers.”

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It did not address any impact on its networks.

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The Federal Bureau of Investigation has been working with targeted companies. Brett Leatherman, the new head of the FBI’s cyber division, declined to comment on the identity of the hack’s victims, including Viasat, when asked in a recent interview.

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But he said the operation enabled hackers to gain access to tools used by US law enforcement to monitor and surveil persons of interest, as well as to collect call records and compromise the communications of people in government and politics. 

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Viasat provides in-flight internet for commercial jets and communications support “across air, land, and sea” for governments around the world, according to its website. It also reported having about 257,000 home internet subscribers last summer, and competes with the likes of SpaceX’s Starlink and EchoStar’s Boost Mobile to provide direct-to-cellular mobile service.

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‘Direct Involvement’

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Viasat was previously hit by a cyberattack about an hour before Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. The primary target was thought to be the Ukrainian military, the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre said at the time, but thousands of customers in Ukraine and elsewhere in Europe were affected by the outage. Months later, the US joined the UK and other European allies to accuse Russia of being behind the operation. 

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Beijing has repeatedly denied US allegations of its involvement in Salt Typhoon, which was first reported by The Wall Street Journal last year. In January, the US sanctioned a Chinese firm accused of “direct involvement” in the infiltrations along with the country’s Ministry of State Security.