White House Convenes Urgent Talks on China's Telecom Espionage

Senior White House officials met with telecommunications executives regarding China's major cyber espionage campaign. Earlier this month, U.S. authorities announced that hackers linked to China intercepted surveillance data after breaching multiple telecom companies, marking a significant security breach.

Senior White House officials held a pivotal meeting on Friday with telecommunications executives to address what they described as China's 'significant cyber espionage campaign targeting the sector,' according to a White House statement.

The urgency of the meeting stemmed from recent discoveries earlier this month, when U.S. authorities revealed that hackers with ties to China had intercepted surveillance data targeting American law enforcement by infiltrating several telecom firms. Senator Mark Warner, chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, labeled the incident as 'the worst telecom hack in our nation's history - by far.'

The meeting, led by national security adviser Jake Sullivan and Anne Neuberger, deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technology, aimed to strengthen collaborations between the government and the private telecom sector to defend against complex nation-state cyber threats. The White House, however, withheld the names of the telecom companies and executives involved in these discussions. Meanwhile, Beijing has consistently denied allegations of utilizing hackers to access foreign systems.

(With inputs from agencies.)