Oct 6 (Reuters) - Chinese hackers accessed the networks

of U.S. broadband providers and obtained information from

systems that the federal government uses for court-authorized

wiretapping, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday.

Verizon Communications ( VZ ), AT&T ( T ) and Lumen

Technologies ( LUMN ) are among the telecoms companies whose

networks were breached by the recently discovered intrusion, the

newspaper said, citing people familiar with the matter.

The hackers might have held access for months to network

infrastructure used by the companies to cooperate with

court-authorized U.S. requests for communications data, the

newspaper said. It said the hackers had also accessed other

tranches of internet traffic.

China's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a

Reuters request for comment. Beijing has in the past denied

claims by the U.S. government and others that it has used

hackers to break into foreign computer systems.

Verizon Communications ( VZ ), AT&T ( T ) and Lumen Technologies ( LUMN ) did not

immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Wall Street Journal said the attack was carried out by a

Chinese hacking group with the aim of collecting intelligence.

U.S. investigators have dubbed it "Salt Typhoon".

Earlier this year, U.S. law enforcement disrupted a major

Chinese hacking group nicknamed "Flax Typhoon," months after

confronting Beijing about sweeping cyber espionage under a

campaign named "Volt Typhoon."