China targeted Americans via Caribbean phone networks: Report

According to a report, China used mobile phone networks in the Caribbean to put together a surveillance network against US mobile phone users.

Watch:

Add WION as a Preferred Source

Chinese authorities reportedly "targeted" US phone subscriber to "track and intercept" phone communications,the Threat Intelligence Report said.

Also Read:China dismisses accusations of hacking attempt on US vaccine developer Moderna

In 2018, two major mobile networks - China Mobile and China Unicom targeted US mobile users in significant volumes.

A cluster of attacks was discovered targeting agroup of US phones fromnetworks including China Unicom, Cable & Wireless, Barbados and Bahamas Telecom.

"The attacks against these phones indicated coordination between the operators. This could be achieved by China acquiring network addresses from these two Caribbean operators allowing China to originate attacks, both of which are partially owned by the same parent company Cable & Wireless," it said.

"As surveillance attacks from China decelerated in late2018, they accelerated rapidly in moreCaribbean countries such as Antigua, Guyana and the Virgin Islands," the report added.

The report said the "activity" continued until April last year "when the attack volumes across all countries decreased on 3G networks and began transitioning to 4G."

The report informed that China has long expanded its investment in the Caribbean, particularly in the Dominican Republic.

"Huawei has also had a very close relationship with Cable & Wireless based on investment in 4G upgrades at BTC and network investments with other countries in the region," the report said.

The report said that it is likely that many Caribbean operators have sold or leased SS7 Global Title addresses to other cyber-espionage state sponsors and criminal organizations becoming a threat sponsor either deliberately or unintentionally.