Washington:
Chinese hackers are targeting cellphones used by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance, US media reported on Friday.
The New York Times, citing people familiar with the matter, said the hacking attempt appeared to be part of a broader intelligence-gathering effort by Chinese hackers.
The newspaper said the incident involved a break-in into Verizon’s phone system and that investigators were looking into whether communications data was stolen.
The campaigns of Democratic candidate Kamala Harris and vice presidential candidate Tim Walz were also targeted, officials said.
“We are aware of reports that highly sophisticated nation-state actors have targeted multiple telecommunications providers in the United States for intelligence gathering purposes,” Verizon spokesperson Rich Young told AFP. he said.
The Times said the Trump campaign was informed this week that the former president and Mr. Vance were among a number of people inside and outside the government whose phone numbers were targeted.
Western cybersecurity experts believe the hack was carried out by a Chinese group known as Salt Typhoon, the paper said.
The Washington Post reported that the hacking operation appears to have compromised the cell phones of two Trump-Vance campaign staffers.
The FBI declined to comment on reports that Trump and Vance’s cellphones were targeted.
However, the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) said in a joint statement that “the U.S. government is investigating unauthorized access to commercial telecommunications infrastructure by persons with ties to the People’s Republic of China.”
“Once the FBI identifies specific malicious activity targeting this area, the FBI and (CISA) immediately notify affected companies, provide technical assistance, and assist other potential victims.” “We quickly shared information to assist,” they said.
“U.S. government agencies are working together to proactively mitigate this threat and are working with industry partners to strengthen cyber defenses across the commercial communications sector,” they added.
Last month, the United States indicted three Iranians for their involvement in a hacking operation targeting the Trump campaign.
In 2016, a Democratic National Committee email hack attributed to Russians exposed internal party communications, including those related to candidate Hillary Clinton.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
