U.S. telecommunications large Ribbon has confirmed that government-backed hackers had entry to its community for nearly a 12 months earlier than getting caught, in accordance with a public submitting.
The telco large mentioned in a 10-Q disclosure final week with the U.S. Securities and Change Fee {that a} suspected “nation-state actor had gained entry to the corporate’s IT community” as early as December 2024. Ribbon mentioned it notified regulation enforcement and that it believes the hackers are not in its community.
The Texas-headquartered Ribbon supplies telephone, networking, and web providers for firms, enterprises, and important infrastructure organizations, similar to power and transportation programs. The corporate counts tons of of firms as prospects, together with Fortune 500 companies and authorities businesses, such because the Division of Protection.
Reuters first reported information of the breach.
Catherine Berthier, a spokesperson for Ribbon, confirmed that three of Ribbon’s prospects are identified to be affected however declined to call the affected firms, citing confidentiality.
It’s not clear if the hackers exfiltrated personally identifiable info belonging to any people or different delicate knowledge from its company prospects within the breach, however the firm famous within the submitting that “a number of buyer recordsdata saved outdoors of the principle community on two laptops do seem to have been accessed by the menace actor.” Ribbon mentioned it notified the affected prospects.
Ribbon is the most recent in a collection of telecommunication suppliers to have been hacked over the previous two years however didn’t instantly attribute the hack to a specific authorities, when requested by TechCrunch.
Berthier declined to supply further info when requested by TechCrunch, citing the corporate’s ongoing investigation.
Chinese language-backed hackers have beforehand focused and compromised a minimum of 200 U.S.-based firms, together with telephone and web suppliers, in an effort to steal telephone data and calling knowledge about senior U.S. authorities officers. A number of telcos, together with AT&T, Verizon, and Lumen, have been confirmed hacked as a part of the marketing campaign, together with cloud giants and datacenter suppliers.
Among the firms have been positioned outdoors of the USA, together with in Canada.
The hackers, referred to as Salt Hurricane, are considered one of a number of China-backed hacking teams mentioned to be focusing on the U.S. and its allies as a part of a multi-year effort to arrange for a future anticipated Chinese language invasion of Taiwan, in accordance with U.S. authorities officers.
Up to date with remark from Ribbon.
