News: 0180548431

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China Hacked Email Systems of US Congressional Committee Staff (ft.com)

(Thursday January 08, 2026 @11:45AM (msmash) from the more-you-know dept.)


China has hacked the emails used by congressional staff on powerful committees in the US House of Representatives, as part of a massive cyber espionage campaign known as Salt Typhoon. An anonymous reader shares a report:

> Chinese intelligence [1]accessed email systems used by some staffers

[2]non-paywalled source

on the House China committee in addition to aides on the foreign affairs committee, intelligence committee and armed services committee, according to people familiar with the attack. The intrusions were detected in December.

>

> The attacks are the latest element of an ongoing cyber campaign against US communication networks by the Ministry of State Security, China's intelligence service. One person familiar with the attack said it was unclear if the MSS had accessed lawmakers' emails. The MSS has been operating Salt Typhoon for several years. It allows China to access the unencrypted phone calls, texts and voicemails of almost every American, and in some cases enables access to email accounts. Salt Typhoon has also intercepted the calls of senior US officials over the past couple of years, said people familiar with the campaign.



[1] https://www.ft.com/content/44f730c4-7de3-4a09-88dd-41ea9c373dcb

[2] https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/china-hacked-email-systems-us-congressional-committee-staff-ft-reports-2026-01-08/



How are they allowed to do this? (Score:2)

by Valgrus Thunderaxe ( 8769977 )

We should kidnap their president.

Re: (Score:3)

by 4wdloop ( 1031398 )

If they are that good maybe they should kidnap ours?

Re: (Score:3)

by BeepBoopBeep ( 7930446 )

I heard their president is using a Taiwan sourced beeper to keep off the internet

What will her excuse be now? (Score:4, Insightful)

by jacks smirking reven ( 909048 )

Cybersecurity falls under the DHS, [1]if only there was a group dedicated to securing the governments networks [cnbc.com]

But you know, I have confidence that getting the team together and digging through the evidence and with some real hard work and gumption they will discover a way to blame Joe Biden for this.

[1] https://www.cnbc.com/2025/11/07/trump-government-budget-cuts-cybersecurity-hacking-risks.html

Re: (Score:2)

by kwelch007 ( 197081 )

Yes. Why are there "email systemS" used by Congressional staff? Those systems should be central, compartmentalized and secured. Need justification? FOIA.

Re: (Score:2)

by ArchieBunker ( 132337 )

Blame Hunter Biden's laptop.

at least 30 years now (Score:2)

by ole_timer ( 4293573 )

the chinese have been hacking us, and we have we been hacking them, this is not new

Re: (Score:3)

by fropenn ( 1116699 )

And email is particularly vulnerable. Congressional leaders should not be doing anything of importance on email.

Re:at least 30 years now (Score:4, Funny)

by BeepBoopBeep ( 7930446 )

They arent doing anything of real importances in the physical world either

Re: (Score:2)

by PPH ( 736903 )

From TFA:

> The White House and the offices of the four committees reportedly targeted in the surveillance sweep did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

They did respond. But it went straight to everyone's junk folder.

> stand accused of gathering data on wide swathes of Americans' telephone communications and intercepted conversations, including those between prominent U.S. politicians and government officials.

Time to start kicking some ass in the US telecom sector, IMO.

So what's the NSA up to? (Score:2)

by Bruce66423 ( 1678196 )

Let's hope they're doing as much. The Chinese are unlikely to publicise when someone does pull a stunt like this...

Everybody calm down (Score:2)

by stolidobserver ( 4112531 )

Let's not bicker and argue over who hacked who. China has huge... burgeoning economies of scale.

All's well that ends.