AP sources: Chinese hackers attacked phones of Trump, Vance and people associated with Harris campaign

WASHINGTON — Chinese hackers involved in a broader spying operation targeted the cellphones of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, his running mate JD Vance and people associated with Kamala Harris’ Democratic campaign, sources familiar with the matter said.

It was not immediately clear what, if any, data may have been accessed. U.S. officials are continuing to investigate, according to the people, who were not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

The FBI statement did not confirm the identity of any of the potential targets, but said it was investigating “unauthorized access to the commercial telecommunications infrastructure of entities associated with the People’s Republic of China.”

“U.S. government agencies are working together to aggressively mitigate this threat and are coordinating with our industry partners to strengthen cyber defenses across the commercial communications sector,” the FBI said.

US officials believe the campaigns were one of many targets of a larger cyberespionage operation launched by China. It was not immediately clear what information China could hope to obtain, although Beijing has for years engaged in large-scale hacking campaigns aimed at collecting the personal data of Americans and government officials, tracking the technology and corporate secrets of major American companies and targeting US infrastructure. .

The news that prominent political candidates and their campaigns have been targeted comes as US officials remain on high alert for foreign interference in the final stretch of the presidential campaign. Iranian hackers have been blamed for attacks on Trump campaign officials, and the Justice Department has exposed massive disinformation campaigns orchestrated by Russia, which is said to favor Trump over Harris.

By contrast, U.S. intelligence officials believe China is taking a neutral stance in the race and is instead focusing on low-ballot races, targeting candidates from both parties based on their positions on issues key to Beijing, including support for Taiwan.

The New York Times first reported that Trump and Vance had been targeted, and said the campaign was informed of the development this week. Three people confirmed the news to the AP, including one who said people associated with the Harris campaign were also targeted.

A spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington said on Friday that they were not familiar with the details and could not comment, but maintained that China regularly falls victim to cyber attacks and opposes the activity.

“Presidential elections are an internal matter of the United States. China has no intention and will not interfere in US elections. We hope that the American side will not make accusations against China during the elections,” the statement said.

Trump campaign spokesman Stephen Cheng did not provide any details about the Chinese operation, but released a statement accusing the Harris campaign of encouraging foreign adversaries, including China and Iran. Trump did not respond to heated questions about whether his phone had been hacked by China as he left the event in Texas.

The FBI has repeatedly warned about Chinese hacking operations over the past year, and Director Chris Wray told Congress in January that investigators had hacked a state-sponsored group known as Volt Typhoon. The operation disrupted a botnet of hundreds of US small office and home routers owned by private citizens and companies. Their ultimate targets included water treatment plants, power grids and transportation systems across the U.S., with Wray warning that Beijing is trying to disrupt the daily lives of Americans if the United States and China ever go to war.

Ray said last month that the FBI had disrupted a separate Chinese government campaign called Typhoon Flax that targeted universities, government agencies and other organizations and installed malware on more than 200,000 consumer devices, including cameras, VCRs, home and office devices. routers.

This month, The Wall Street Journal reported that Chinese hackers penetrated the networks of US broadband providers and potentially gained access to systems that law enforcement agencies use to make wiretapping requests.

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