Dec 28 (Reuters) - The Chinese-linked Salt Typhoon

cyberespionage operation targeted AT&T ( T ) and Verizon's

systems, but the wireless carriers' U.S. networks are now

secure as they work with law enforcement and government

officials, the companies said on Saturday in their first

acknowledgment of the attacks.

"We detect no activity by nation-state actors in our

networks at this time. Based on our current investigation of

this attack, the People's Republic of China targeted a small

number of individuals of foreign intelligence interest," an AT&T ( T )

spokesperson said.

While only a few cases of compromised information were

identified, AT&T ( T ) was monitoring and remediating its networks to

protect customers data, and continues to work with authorities

to assess and mitigate the threat, the spokesperson said.

"We have not detected threat actor activity in Verizon's

network for some time, and after considerable work addressing

this incident, we can report that Verizon has contained the

activities associated with this particular incident," Verizon's

Chief Legal Officer said in a statement.

An independent and highly respected cyber security firm

has confirmed the containment, Verizon said.

On Friday, U.S. officials added a ninth unnamed telecom

company to the list of entities compromised by the Salt Typhoon

hackers and said the Chinese involved gained access to networks

and essentially had broad and full access, giving them the

capability to "geolocate millions of individuals, to record

phone calls at will."

The U.S. Department of Defense and the Federal

Communications Commission did not immediately respond to

Reuters' requests for comment on the company statements. China's

foreign ministry could not immediately be contacted for comment.

Chinese officials have previously described the

allegations as disinformation and said Beijing "firmly opposes

and combats cyber attacks and cyber theft in all forms."

Officials previously alleged hackers targeted Verizon

, AT&T ( T ), Lumen and other telecom companies, and

stole telephone audio intercepts along with a large swath of

call record data.

In response to that cyberattack, the U.S. Cybersecurity and

Infrastructure Security Agency on Dec. 18 urged senior

government and political figures to move mobile communications

to end-to-end encrypted apps.

Targets of Salt Typhoon reportedly included officials

connected to Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald

Trump's presidential campaigns.

There is growing concern about the size and scope of the

reported Chinese hacking into U.S. telecommunications networks

and questions about when companies and the government will be

able to assure Americans about the issue.