China-backed hackers stole text messages and phone records in push for intelligence

China-backed hackers stole text messages and phone records in push for intelligence

Chinese hackers who were backed by the State were reported to have hacked the telecommunication firms in what is said to be for the “geopolitical interest” State-backed Chinese hackers were able to hack into telecommunications firms and steal the contents of text messages of “geopolitical interest” to Beijing, according to a new report.

The group, known as APT41, used a malicious piece of software or malware dubbed “Messagetap” to access servers responsible for sending and storing text messages, cybersecurity firm FireEye said. The company did not disclose the name of the telecom company.

Once in, the malware would search the contents of text messages for keywords of “geopolitical interest to Chinese intelligence collection.” It would also search for specific phone numbers of certain people from a database that the hackers had and were targeting.