Chinese Hacking Group Breaches Email Accounts of US House Committee Staff
A Chinese hacking group has breached email accounts used by staff members working for several powerful committees in the US House of Representatives, according to a report by the Financial Times.
People familiar with the matter said the cyber intrusion affected email systems used by aides on the House China committee, as well as staff supporting panels responsible for foreign affairs, intelligence, and the armed services. The incident was reportedly detected in December, although it remains unclear whether the attackers were able to access the email accounts of lawmakers themselves.
The group behind the breach is known as Salt Typhoon, a hacking operation that US officials have previously linked to Chinese state backed cyber activity. The Financial Times did not identify which individual staffers were targeted during the campaign.
Reuters said it could not independently verify the report. A spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington rejected the allegations, describing them as unfounded speculation. The Federal Bureau of Investigation declined to comment, while the White House and the affected House committees did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
US lawmakers and congressional aides have long been considered high value targets for cyber espionage, particularly those involved in oversight of the country’s military and intelligence agencies. Similar incidents have surfaced in recent years. In November, the Senate Sergeant at Arms warned multiple offices of a cyber incident in which hackers may have accessed communications between the Congressional Budget Office and several Senate offices.
Salt Typhoon has been a persistent concern for US intelligence agencies. The group is alleged to have gathered data from large scale surveillance operations targeting American telecommunications systems, including intercepted conversations involving senior politicians and government officials.
In December 2024, a senior US security agency confirmed that foreign actors sponsored by the People’s Republic of China had compromised systems across at least eight US communications companies, exposing vulnerabilities in critical infrastructure. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency later issued an advisory in August 2025 warning that a recent breach of US telecommunications infrastructure highlighted the growing sophistication of China’s cyber capabilities.
China was also identified as the most active and persistent cyber threat to US government and private sector networks in the 2025 Annual Threat Assessment published by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
The latest report comes amid renewed debate in Washington over cybersecurity policy, following a recent vote to roll back certain regulations. In November, Mark R. Warner, vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, warned that the Salt Typhoon intrusion demonstrated that voluntary cybersecurity measures were not sufficient to prevent long term access by sophisticated state sponsored actors.
Beijing has repeatedly denied involvement in cyber espionage against the United States.
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