China's Salt Typhoon cyberspies hoovered up information belonging to millions of people in the United States over the course of the years-long intrusion into telecommunications networks, according to a top FBI cyber official.

"There's a good chance this espionage campaign has stolen information from nearly every American," Michael Machtinger, deputy assistant director for the FBI's cyber division, told The Register .

"There's a thought among the public that if you don't work in a sensitive area that the PRC might be interested in for its traditional espionage activities, then you are safe, they will not target you," he said, during a Thursday interview with The Register . "As we have seen from Salt Typhoon, this is no longer an assumption that anyone can afford to make."

The Beijing-bac

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