Chinese hackers tried to hack into Trump and Harris' phones, US media
Shafaq News/ Hackers linked to the Chinese government attempted to gain access to phones used by former President Donald Trump, Senator J.D. Vance and others working on their presidential campaign, as well as Kamala Harris campaign, two officials familiar with the matter reported to The Washington Post.
It could not immediately be learned whether the attempts involving the candidates’ devices were successful, but the hack is believed to have compromised the phones of staffers, the sources said. The targeting of Trump and Vance, which was first reported by the New York Times, was confirmed by two other sources.
People linked to the Harris-Walz campaign were also targeted, according to a source familiar with the situation, who declined to confirm whether Vice President Kamala Harris or Minnesota Governor Tim Walz were affected, citing “an active law enforcement investigation.” The FBI notified the Trump-Vance campaign about the breach this week, following its discovery by Verizon. As the campaign awaits a complete list of those potentially targeted, some senior staff have received new phones within the past day.
“Some senior staffers were beginning to use encrypted devices to make even basic phone calls,” a Trump adviser said. Trump advisers were told by the FBI that the hackers were also targeting some members of the media and other prominent Americans.
The FBI also informed Trump advisers that hackers had targeted certain media personnel and other high-profile Americans. This effort, believed to be “bipartisan,” has targeted President Joe Biden’s communications as well, according to two officials, who clarified that this kind of espionage is common practice and is not seen as election interference, the newspaper confirmed.
The attack follows a recent, extensive infiltration of US. telecommunications providers by a Chinese group called Salt Typhoon, tracked by Microsoft for using its software and services in cyberattacks. Sources familiar with prior attempts to breach the Trump campaign stated that Salt Typhoon had tried using this access to infiltrate Trump campaign devices. This earlier breach alarmed the White House, which assembled a special response team. The hackers accessed a dozen companies, including AT&T and Verizon, gaining privileges comparable to senior engineers, which allowed them to access account information and reroute customer traffic, TWP proceeded.
Officials said Salt Typhoon was connected to China’s powerful Ministry of State Security, the country’s main spy agency.
A spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington stated they were unaware of the incident and refrained from commenting. “The presidential elections are US internal matters. China has no intention of interfering in the election and hopes the US refrains from making accusations,” spokesperson Liu Pengyu said, warning against what he described as US attempts to “spread various disinformation about Chinese hacking threats.”
