Chinese hackers tried to breach data on the cellphones of the Trump and Harris campaigns

The US government is investigating unauthorized access to commercial telecommunications infrastructure by Chinese hackers, who have targeted the Trump and Harris campaigns.

The campaigns were notified of the possible breach of cellphones used by former President Trump and his running mate, JD Vance, and members of Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign, the New York Times and Wall Street Journal reported Friday, citing sources familiar with the matter. the matter.

“After the FBI identified specific malicious activity targeting the sector, the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) immediately notified affected companies, provided technical assistance and quickly shared information to help other potential victims” , the FBI and CISA told Fox. News Digital in a joint statement.

The FBI and CISA said the investigation is ongoing and “we encourage any organization that believes they may be a victim to contact their local FBI or CISA office. Agencies across the US government are working together to aggressively mitigate this threat and are coordinating with our industry. partners to consolidate cyber defense in the commercial communications sector”.

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The hackers are believed to be connected to the Chinese government’s intelligence services. The Journal reported.

“We are aware that a highly sophisticated nation-state actor has targeted multiple U.S. telecommunications providers to collect information,” telecommunications company Verizon said in a statement. “Together with federal law enforcement, industry peers and third-party cyber experts, we are working to confirm, assess and remediate any potential impact. Verizon is committed to assisting law enforcement in this investigation. As this is an active investigation, we have no further comment at this time.”

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said investigators were working to determine whether campaign data was stolen, adding that other people in the US government may have been targeted by the attackers.

The Trump campaign blamed the Biden-Harris administration for the attack.

“This is the continuation of election interference by Kamala Harris and Democrats who will stop at nothing, including encouraging China and Iran to attack critical American infrastructure, to prevent President Trump from returning to the White House,” Communications Director Steven Cheung for the Trump campaign. , Fox News Digital said Friday.

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A person familiar with the matter also confirmed to Fox News Digital that the Harris campaign was also targeted.

The latest apparent attack comes months after the Trump campaign said campaign data was targeted hackers from Iran.

In September, three hackers linked to Iran were indicted in connection with a hacking plot against the Trump campaign.

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The three hackers, who are accused of working for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, allegedly “engaged in a large-scale hacking campaign that used spear-phishing and social engineering techniques to target and compromise the accounts of current and former American government officials”. members of the media, non-governmental organizations and persons associated with US political campaigns”.

“These documents were illegally obtained from foreign sources hostile to the United States, designed to interfere with the 2024 election and sow chaos throughout our democratic process,” Cheung said in August, after Politico reported that the campaign was targeted by spear phishing.

Fox News Digital has also reached out to the Harris campaign for comment.

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This is not the first election cycle that a foreign power has tried to influence the election through hacking.

In 2016, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and the DNC had their emails hacked by Russia and released through Wikileaks during the election.