WASHINGTON, Dec 5 (Reuters) - U.S. Federal

Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel is

proposing that communications service providers be required to

submit an annual certification attesting that they have a plan

in place to protect against cyberattacks, the agency said in a

statement on Thursday.

The proposal is in part in response to China's alleged

efforts known as Salt Typhoon to burrow deep into American

telecommunications companies to steal data about U.S. calls.

"While the Commission's counterparts in the intelligence

community are determining the scope and impact of the Salt

Typhoon attack, we need to put in place a modern framework to

help companies secure their networks and better prevent and

respond to cyberattacks in the future," Rosenworcel said in a

statement.