A former official from the FBI has revealed that a cyberattack sponsored by the Chinese government has likely affected every American.

In September, global law enforcement entities, such as the FBI and the National Security Agency, issued a joint advisory alerting the public about Chinese Communist Party-backed actors targeting critical sectors of American life. These include telecommunications, government systems, transportation, hospitality, and military infrastructure.

The advisory highlighted that the cyberattack was not confined to the United States but also targeted numerous countries worldwide. It pointed to three Chinese companies, allegedly behind the cyber campaign known as Salt Typhoon, which reportedly operate on behalf of China’s intelligence apparatus, including components of the People’s Liberation Army and the Ministry of State Security.

The data gathered from these cyberattacks enable Chinese intelligence to “track and monitor the communications and movements of their targets globally.”

The impact of the cyberattack was felt worldwide. (Getty Images)

Cynthia Kaiser, a former high-ranking official in the FBI’s cyber division, told the New York Times it’s hard to envision a scenario where any American wasn’t impacted by the hack.

“I can’t imagine any American was spared given the breadth of the campaign,” she said.

Those directly impacted by the cyberattack include senior U.S. government officials and prominent political figures whose communications were accessed, according to the FBI.

The national flags of the United States and China flutter at the Fairmont Peace Hotel on April 25, 2024 in Shanghai, China. (Wang Gang/VCG via Getty Images)

Pete Nicoletti, chief information security officer at Check Point, told Fox News Digital that those behind the Salt Typhoon cyberattack had unprecedented access to phone calls being placed by Americans.

“They had full reign access,” Nicoletti, said. “So, you know, your grandmother calling you to remind you to pick up groceries was not a targeted person and they’re gonna listen into that call. But Trump, Vance, Kamala Harris, and dozens of other US government officials were specifically targeted.”

Nicoletti said the Salt Typhoon hackers “established a foothold and exfiltrated data for five years,” which is “almost unprecedented.”

Yet the cybersecurity expert says his greatest concern is not what Salt Typhoon may target in the future, but whether the group remains embedded inside companies and agencies that still haven’t discovered the intrusion.

Chinese military personnel head to a field to participate in the Golden Dragon military exercise in Svay Chok village, Kampong Chhnang province, north of Phnom Penh Cambodia, Thursday, May 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

“My biggest concern is they’re still in various organizations and undetected,” he said. “So the thing that I worry about is not the next time that these guys hack somebody, it’s what they’re doing currently and who they’re in.”

When discussing the cyberattack in December 2024, then-deputy national security adviser Anne Neuberger said the hackers worked to identify the owners of various devices, then spy on phone calls and text messages if they were “government targets of interest.”