FCC REVERSAL REMOVES FEDERAL CYBER SAFEGUARDS TARGETING TELECOM WEAKNESSES POST-SALT TYPHOON ATTACKS

Summary from the TLDR InfoSec newsletter

The FCC reversed a ruling from January that required US telecom providers to implement and annually certify cybersecurity risk management plans under CALEA, removing federal mandates established after the Salt Typhoon attacks that compromised major carriers and exposed at least 200 US organizations. Security experts criticized the rollback as “shockingly incompetent,” noting it eliminates the only concrete federal regulatory response to attacks that allowed Chinese state actors to access wiretap systems, record calls, and geolocate millions of individuals, including high-ranking US officials. The reversal came after heavy lobbying by compromised telecom providers that failed to document their remediation efforts, raising concerns about national security at a time when telecommunications infrastructure remains vulnerable to nation-state attacks.