Chinese state-backed hackers are compromising telecom operators to steal text messages

APT41, one of China’s prolific hacking groups has developed a new kind of malware that can steal SMS messages from a cellular network. According to latest research by cybersecurity vendor FireEye, the state-backed threat actor — notorious for a barrage of espionage operations against geopolitical adversaries — developed the capabilities to monitor and save SMS traffic from specific phone numbers for subsequent theft. The malware — dubbed MESSAGETAP — was discovered on a Short Message Service Center (SMSC) server that was being used by a telecom firm to route SMS messages to intended recipients. Aside from employed to extract the…

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source https://thenextweb.com/security/2019/11/01/chinese-state-backed-hackers-are-compromising-telecom-operators-to-steal-text-messages/