FBI offers $10M for info on China's Salt Typhoon hackers
The Federal Bureau of Investigation on Friday announced a $10 million reward for information on Salt Typhoon, the China-backed hacking group responsible for targeting several US telecoms, as well as the US Treasury.
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The Federal Bureau of Investigation on Friday announces a $10 million reward for information on Salt Typhoon, the China-backed hacking group responsible for targeting several US telecoms, as well as the US Treasury.
The agency said it is especially interested in any information that could help identify the specific individuals behind the campaign or about its operations targeting the telecommunications sector.
“Investigation into these actors and their activity revealed a broad and significant cyber campaign to leverage access into these networks to target victims on a global scale,” the FBI said in its announcement.
Cybersecurity insiders have identified Salt Typhoon as a known nation-state adversary and Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) group sponsored by the Chinese government.
The nation-state threat actor made headlines last September after the US government discovered the group had breached the nation’s commercial telecoms infrastructure, including major companies such as Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Lumen Technologies.
The FBI said it is aggressively committed to identifying, mitigating, and disrupting Salt Typhoon's malicious cyber activity. "If you have information about Salt Typhoon, we want to hear from you," the FBI posted on X, in both English and Chinese.
In 2024, FBI and our partners raised the alarm about China’s hacking of US telecommunications infrastructure. This year, we’re going after the individuals responsible for the intrusions. If you have information about Salt Typhoon, we want to hear from you: https://t.co/zbcWCAtMvr… pic.twitter.com/DRRTYEtKlK
undefined FBI (@FBI) April 24, 2025
The group was able to obtain “call data logs, a limited number of private communications, and select information subject to court-ordered US law enforcement requests,” the FBI said.
The phone records of then-President-elect Donald Trump and vice presidential running mate, Ohio Senator JD Vance, as well as some Kamala Harris campaign staffers, were all targeted by the group in the lead-up to the 2024 presidential election.
What’s more, the FBI said that the People’s Republic of China (PRC)-linked threat actors had been lurking in several of the telecom providers for an undetermined amount of time – and likely still remain.
Salt Typhoon is said to be highly sophisticated and uses anti-forensic and anti-analysis techniques, allowing the group to go undetected for months. The group is thought to have been operating in 2020.
Also known as GhostEmperor and FamousSparrow, experts warn the malicious campaign appears to be a part of China’s ongoing cyber efforts to infiltrate US critical infrastructure. China has repeatedly denied any allegations of its involvement.
Salt Typhoon is also believed to be behind the hack of the US Treasury Department, discovered in February, in which threat actors gained access to the laptops of some senior officials.
Anyone with information on Salt Typhoon can file a report with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) or contact your local FBI field office.
In conjunction, the US State Department is also offering a $10 million reward for information about individuals engaging in cyber activities on behalf of foreign governments to target US critical infrastructure.