(Reuters) -Corporate investigators found evidence that Chinese hackers broke into a U.S. telecommunications company in the summer of 2023, indicating the hackers penetrated the U.S. communications system earlier than previously known, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday.

Investigators working for the telecommunications firm discovered last year that malware used by Chinese state-backed hacking groups was on the company's systems for seven months starting in the summer of 2023, Bloomberg reported, citing two people familiar with the matter and a document.

(Reporting by Ismail Shakil in Ottawa)