**Singapore's Top Telcos Targeted by China-Backed Hackers, Government Confirms**

Singapore's government has finally confirmed that a known Chinese cyber-espionage group, UNC3886, targeted four of its top telecommunication companies in a months-long attack. The hackers gained access to some systems, but did not disrupt services or access personal information, said K. Shanmugam, the country's coordinating minister for national security.

The attack on Singtel, StarHub, M1, and Simba Telecom is part of a wider pattern of cyber-attacks that have been linked to China-backed groups. The Chinese government has been accused of conducting regular cyber-espionage operations, as well as prepositioning for disruptive attacks ahead of an anticipated invasion of Taiwan, which Beijing has repeatedly denied.

UNC3886 is a notorious hacking group known for exploiting zero-day vulnerabilities in routers, firewalls, and virtualized environments. They have targeted the defense, technology, and telecom industries across the US and Asia-Pacific region. In this case, the hackers used advanced tools like rootkits to gain long-term persistence to their systems.

According to the government's statement, "In one instance, they were able to gain limited access to critical systems but did not get far enough to have been able to disrupt services." The telcos themselves confirmed that they face regular distributed denial-of-service and malware attacks, but said they regularly adopt defense-in-depth mechanisms to protect their networks.

The attack on Singapore's top telcos follows similar attacks on hundreds of telecoms companies around the world in recent years. Multiple governments have linked these attacks to a China-backed group dubbed Salt Typhoon. The Singaporean government said that the UNC3886 attack has "not resulted in the same extent of damage as cyberattacks elsewhere," likely referring to the Salt Typhoon hacks.

The revelation raises concerns about the vulnerability of critical infrastructure and the role of state-sponsored hackers in targeting telecoms companies worldwide. As governments and tech leaders grapple with the threat of cyber-attacks, one thing is clear: the stakes have never been higher.