Chinese Hackers Target Trump, Vance and Harris Campaign Phones: US Media | Cybercrime News

The FBI is investigating allegations of access to cellphone networks by people with ties to Beijing.

The FBI has launched an investigation into alleged Chinese hacking after reports that the phones of Donald Trump and JD Vance may have been compromised.

Chinese hackers targeted cell phones used by the United States Republican presidential candidate and his associates, as well as people associated with Democratic nominee Kamala Harris’ campaign, the New York Times reported Friday.

It says hackers broke into the Verizon cell phone network and investigators are looking into whether any communications were intercepted. The Associated Press confirmed that people working on the Harris campaign were also targeted.

The FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued a statement saying the government was investigating “unauthorized access” to the country’s telecommunications infrastructure by “actors affiliated with the People’s Republic of China”.

“Agencies across the US government are working together to mitigate this threat and are communicating with our industry partners to strengthen cyber defenses across the commercial communications sector,” the two organizations said.

They did not say what the purpose of the incident was, but Verizon said it was aware of a sophisticated effort to target US phones and gather intelligence.

The New York Times said the Trump campaign was informed this week that the former president and Vance were among a number of people whose phone numbers were targeted by the hacking of Verizon’s phone systems.

It added that the Republican campaign did not confirm that the calls of the former president and his colleagues were targeted.

The Democratic Alliance campaign has not yet commented on the reports.

High alert

News of the targeting of prominent political figures and their campaigns comes as US officials are increasingly wary of foreign interference in the final presidential campaign.

Trump’s campaign was hacked earlier this year. The US Department of Justice has charged three members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps with trying to interfere in the November 5 election.

China, in contrast, is believed by American intelligence officials to be neutral in the race and instead focuses on low-level and domestic elections that target candidates from both parties with their views on key issues in Beijing, such as. Taiwan support.