Source: Bloomberg (paywall)
A House panel investigation found that major U.S. carriers created direct connections between their core telephone systems and commercial data centers without adequate security isolation, giving the Chinese-backed Salt Typhoon hackers a pathway into critical communications infrastructure. The breach wasn't a zero-day exploit but a structural vulnerability: carriers prioritized operational efficiency and cost savings over defense-in-depth architecture. The finding exposes a gap between telecom regulators' security mandates and how carriers actually build systems under competitive pressure, raising questions about whether voluntary compliance frameworks can force redesigns of billion-dollar infrastructure.