9th telecoms firm hit by a Chinese espionage campaign, White House says

A ninth U.S. telecoms firm has been confirmed to have been hacked as part of a sprawling Chinese espionage campaign that gave officials in Beijing access to private texts and phone conversations of an unknown number of Americans, a top White House official said Friday.

Biden administration officials said this month that at least eight telecommunications companies, as well as dozens of nations, had been affected by the Chinese hacking blitz known as Salt Typhoon.

But Anne Neuberger, the deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technologies, told reporters Friday that a ninth victim had been identified after the administration released guidance to companies about how to hunt for Chinese culprits in their networks.

The update from Neuberger is the latest development in a massive hacking operation that has alarmed national security officials, exposed cybersecurity vulnerabilities in the private sector and laid bare China’s hacking sophistication.

The hackers compromised the networks of telecommunications companies to obtain customer call records and gain access to the private communications of “a limited number of individuals.” Though the FBI has not publicly identified any of the victims, officials believe senior U.S. government officials and prominent political figures are among those whose whose communications were accessed.

Officials believe the goal of the hackers was to identify who owned the phones and, if they were “government targets of interest,” spy on their texts and phone calls, she said.

The Chinese government has denied responsibility for the hacking.

federal Anti-money laundering law on hold again after appeals court ruling

Enforcement of a new anti-money laundering law was once again put on hold Thursday after an appeals court reinstated an injunction blocking the Corporate Transparency Act.

Reuters reported on Friday that the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals opted to reinstate a previous ruling that lifted the stay in order “to preserve the constitutional status quo while the merits panel considers the parties’ weighty substantive arguments.”

The law requires businesses to report owners and beneficial owners to an agency called the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. The aim was to cut down on shell corporations and money laundering.

Small business advocates sued in Alabama and Texas, saying the reporting requirements are too onerous. An estimated 32 million small businesses must register personal information with FinCEN, such as a photo ID and home address.

The Department of Justice appealed the rulings, tying up the law in the appellate system. Reuters said a different panel will decide whether to uphold a judge’s ruling or not.

Parsons, ex-Time Warner exec, dies at 76

Richard Parsons, one of corporate America’s most prominent Black executives who held posts at Time Warner and Citigroup, died Thursday. He was 76.

Parsons, who died at his Manhattan home, was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2015 and cited “unanticipated complications” from the disease for cutting back on work a few years later.

The financial services company Lazard, where Parsons was a longtime board member, confirmed his death.

Parsons’ friend Ronald Lauder told The New York Times that the cause of death was cancer.

— Compiled from staff and Associated Press reports.