AP sources: Chinese hackers attacked cell phones used by Trump and Vance

WASHINGTON (AP) — Chinese hackers targeted cellphones used by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and his running mate JD Vance, two people familiar with the matter said Friday.

It was not immediately clear what data may have been obtained, but U.S. officials are investigating, 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 that Trump and Vance were among 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.

U.S. officials believe Trump and Vance are among several people whose phone numbers are believed to have been targeted and suspect it is part of a larger cyberespionage campaign launched by China, he said.

The New York Times first reported that Trump and Pence had been targeted and said the campaign had been alerted by US officials this week.

Trump campaign spokesman Stephen Cheng did not provide any details about the Chinese operation, but issued a statement accusing Democrat Kamala Harris’ campaign of encouraging foreign adversaries, including China and Iran.

Over the past year, the FBI has repeatedly warned about Chinese hacking operations, with FBI Director Chris Wray telling Congress in January that investigators busted a state-sponsored group known as Volt Typhoon. This operation targeted US small office and home routers owned by private citizens and companies. Their ultimate targets included water treatment plants, the power grid, and transportation systems in the United States

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

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Michelle L. Price in New York contributed to this report.