US officials are still trying to help major telecom providers evict Chinese government-backed hackers from their networks and don’t have a timeline for when that will be done, officials said Tuesday.

U.S. officials said Tuesday they had not expelled Chinese hackers from telecommunications companies, warning concerned users to turn to encrypted messages.

China-linked spies are still lurking inside U.S. telecommunications networks roughly six months after American officials started investigating the intrusions, senior officials told reporters Tuesday.

Officials from the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency say the major Chinese hack began in late spring, and they are strongly urging Americans to use encrypted communications.

Chinese hackers who penetrated U.S. telecoms likely haven't been fully evicted partially due to shifting tactics made in response to public disclosures, federal

A senior U.S. official who is among those working to evict alleged Chinese hackers from American telecom companies has a word of advice for his fellow Americans:

The U.S. has been investigating the Salt Typhoon hackers since late spring and early summer this year, a senior FBI official said.

Adamski made the comments to researchers at the Cyberwarcon security conference in Arlington, Virginia. On Thursday, U.S. Senator Mark Warner told the Washington Post that a suspected China-linked hack on U.S. telecommunications firms was “the worst telecom hack in our nation’s history - by far.”