Alert: US Telecoms Hacked by China

The Largest Hack in US History

NBC News reports that AT&T, Verizon, Lumen Technologies, and up to eight other US-based telecoms have been hacked by the Chinese government. Your phone records, voice calls, and text messages are now the property of the Chinese government. But here’s the kicker: they were already the property of the US government.

With this new revelation, the US government is now urging Americans to use encrypted apps (imagine!). Why? Because FBI and CISA officials have admitted they can’t predict when the telecoms will be fully secure again. The same government that once pushed for "backdoors" in encryption now finds itself dealing with the fallout — backdoors that have been exploited by foreign adversaries like China. This proves the point that privacy advocates have been making for years: allowing government access to private conversations is not only reckless but downright draconian.

These telecom giants rake in billions for enabling our digital communication, but their partnership with the government reveals a darker truth: they have little interest in safeguarding our privacy. Instead, they leverage their systems for their own profit and for controlling the population. After all, what better way to monitor and control the masses than by analyzing every single digital conversation in the country? What many privacy experts warned us about has finally come to pass — yet those same voices were dismissed as “conspiracy theorists.” And now, as predicted, the nightmare is here.

Read more: NBC News

US officials are scrambling to advise the public to use encrypted messaging apps to protect their communications from foreign hackers. But they’ve also admitted that they have no timeline for when the telecom system will be safe — perhaps never.

The scale of the breach is staggering. Jeff Greene, executive assistant director for cybersecurity at CISA, said it’s “impossible” for agencies to predict when the hackers will be fully eradicated. The damage is extensive: hackers have access to three types of sensitive information, according to FBI officials:

1. Your phone records, a complete list of every call you’ve ever made.

2. Live phone conversations, the ability to intercept your real-time calls.

3. The Backdoor, the government-mandated loophole in the telecom network, designed for law enforcement but now can be exploited by malicious actors.

Eventually, someone always finds the key to the backdoor. If it’s in the hands of the government, it’s only a matter of time before it’s in the hands of someone else. The backdoor was created under the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA), designed to aid law enforcement. But now, that same access is threatening every citizen’s privacy.

The Hack Was First Publicly Disclosed …

The hack was first publicly disclosed in the lead-up to the election. While the US government insists it wasn’t an attempt to sway election results, the FBI has confirmed that this was instead a massive, traditional espionage operation by China, aimed at gathering intelligence on American politics and government.

In a statement to NBC News, Ron Wyden, D-Ore, one of the Senate’s most vocal privacy advocates, slammed America’s reliance on CALEA, which leaves sensitive information dangerously unencrypted. Wyden, you may recall, was the whistleblower who exposed the government’s practice of collecting mobile notifications from Android and iOS devices—a move that raised alarms about privacy long before this hack.

Apple and Google Spying on Phone Notifications for Governments

My Anger

The government has relentlessly pushed for a backdoor into every communication system that promises privacy — and now, we’re paying the price. Time and time again, privacy advocates warned of the worst-case scenario, and here it is. The Chinese government (and likely others) now has full access to all communications within the largest US telecoms. Every text message, every phone call, is now at the mercy of a foreign power. This scandal proves once again that governments, no matter how well-intentioned, cannot be trusted with the master key to our private lives.

This hack also underscores the glaring truth: the government has no business advocating for digital IDs, a cashless society, cars that monitor our driving habits, and total control over our private lives. And let’s not even consider the potential consequences of feeding every digital conversation into a Chinese AI. What kind of advantage does that give China in profiling Americans? How deep does this go?

This isn’t a James Bond movie. This is real life.

Americans Should Be Outraged

Americans should be furious. The world should be on alert. But we’re too comfortable. We go about our daily routines, unaware—or perhaps indifferent—while governments around the globe tighten their grip on our freedoms.

In Closing

Here’s my advice: use cash. Have private conversations in person, without a phone in sight. When you communicate digitally, use secure apps like Signal and email services like Proton Mail. Be mindful of the photos on your phone, too. Remember: every action you take in the digital world is recorded—and it’s likely to be stored forever.

Maybe this will finally put to rest the argument that encryption should never have backdoors, period. Time will tell.

It infuriates me that technology, which was created to enhance communication and improve our lives, is constantly being turned against us.

A 1984 Chevy truck, a wallet full of cash, and good conversation around a campfire —now that’s starting to look like the better way to live.

~Will