Governments are on high alert about state-sponsored criminals waging cyberattack driven cyberwarfare against critical operations.

Intelligence leaked this summer that state-sponsored threat actors connected to China breached US Federal government resources via major telecom providers’ networks. Last week, it was revealed by several journalism sources including the Wall Street Journal that the target of the activity was federal government communications related to court-ordered network wiretapping applications that the hackers accessed through AT&T, Lumen, and Verizon’s networks.

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Cyberattack could have taken place months ago

Though no one with direct knowledge of the situation was named, anonymous sources said the threat actors could have tapped into the networks months ago.

Though neither AT&T nor Verizon have yet to issue a statement, in a blog Lumen disclosed that Black Lotus Labs found threat actors from the Chinese-affiliated Volt Typhoon exploited a zero-day flaw in the VersaMem web shell to gain access.

This comes at a time when escalating tensions between the US and China, Iran and other nations have government officials on high alert about fears that state-backed cybercriminals may be lying in wait in some US systems already, getting ready to pull off attacks on critical infrastructure such waste and clean water systems.

In October 2024, the New Jersey-based utility American Water announced it had brought its customer service portal and other systems back online after a cyberattack. After spotting “unauthorised activity” on its network earlier in the month, the company opted to power down its portal and other systems.

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These breaches underscore the vulnerability associated with the supply chain. An organisation is only as secure as its weakest link.