A top White House official says a ninth U.S. telecoms firm has been confirmed to have been hacked as part of a sprawling Chinese espionage campaign that gave officials in Beijing access to private texts and phone conversations of an unknown number of Americans.

A ninth U.S. telecom firm was confirmed to have been hacked as part of a sprawling Chinese espionage campaign, a White House official said.

As more is learned about the Salt Typhoon breach that it attributed to China, officials are laying the blame on companies that were slow to identify

The attack known as Salt Typhoon gave Beijing access to texts and phone conversations of an unknown number of Americans