Senator opposes FCC plan to reverse cyber rules adopted after Salt Typhoon attack

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By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The top Democrat on the Senate Commerce Committee on Tuesday called on the Federal Communications Commission to abandon plans to rescind cybersecurity requirements adopted after the massive Salt Typhoon Chinese hacking incident that infiltrated U.S. telecom companies last year.

Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington urged FCC Chair Brendan Carr to drop the plan to vote to rescind the ruling issued in January, which found that federal law requires telecommunications carriers to secure networks from unlawful access to or interception of communications. The ruling also said that carriers could be in breach if they failed to adopt certain cybersecurity practices.

Cantwell called the FCC ruling adopted in the final days of the Biden administration “a commonsense acknowledgement that providers are responsible for protecting public safety against cybersecurity threats.”

A spokesperson for Carr, who was appointed by Republican President Donald Trump, did not immediately comment. In January, when the FCC was led by Democrat Jessica Rosenworcel, the agency also issued a proposed rule that sought comment on specific cybersecurity requirements.

Senator Ben Ray Lujan, a Democrat from New Mexico, has said China’s alleged efforts likely represent “the largest telecommunications hack in our nation’s history.” Hackers targeted telecom companies such as Verizon AT&T Lumen and others.

Chinese-linked hackers had previously targeted a host of U.S. and global telecommunications companies and a U.S. state’s Army National Guard network in a wide-ranging and years-long cyberespionage campaign tracked as Salt Typhoon.

Cantwell said Salt Typhoon allowed the Chinese government to “geolocate millions of individuals” and “record phone calls at will,” and that the incident targeted almost every American.

The Chinese government has denied responsibility.

“You have now proposed to reverse this requirement after heavy lobbying from the very telecommunications carriers whose networks were breached by Chinese hackers,” Cantwell said.

AT&T and Verizon did not immediately comment.

Carr said the FCC plans to rescind the ruling and withdraw the proposed rule after recent engagement with telecom providers and agreement to take steps to protect national security.

The agency said the earlier proposal was “legally erroneous and ineffective at promoting cybersecurity” and argued in favor of a “targeted approach to promoting effective cybersecurity.”

Cantwell also questioned Carr’s position on other national security issues.

“After helping lead the movement during the Biden administration to require that TikTok divest of Chinese influence, you have been silent while the Trump administration ignored the law and threatens to leave TikTok’s algorithm under Chinese control,” she wrote.

Trump in September delayed until January 20 enforcement of the 2023 law that bans the app unless its Chinese owners sell its U.S. assets to allow completion of the transaction.

(Reporting by David Shepardson in Washington; Editing by Matthew Lewis)