AP sources: Chinese hackers targeted phones belonging to Trump, Vance and people associated with the Harris campaign

WASHINGTON (AP) — Chinese hackers engaged in a broader spying operation have targeted cellphones used by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, his running mate J.D. Vance and people associated with Kamala Harris’ Democratic campaign, people said who are familiar with the case Friday.

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

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

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

U.S. officials believe the campaigns were among numerous targets of a larger cyberespionage operation launched by China, the people said. It was not immediately clear what information China hoped to collect, although Beijing has for years engaged in large-scale hacking campaigns aimed at harvesting the private data of Americans and government officials, spying on technology and trade secrets of major US companies and attacking US infrastructure . .

The news that high-profile political candidates and their campaigns were targeted comes as U.S. officials remain on high alert for foreign interference in the final stretch of the presidential campaign. Iranian hackers are blamed for attacking Trump campaign officials and the Justice Department has exposed massive Russian-orchestrated disinformation campaignswhich is said to favor Trump over Harris.

China, on the other hand, is believed by U.S. intelligence officials to take a neutral stance in the race and is instead focused on “down-ballot races,” targeting candidates from both parties based on their positions on issues critical to Beijing, including support for China. Taiwan.

The New York Times first reported that Trump and Vance were targeted and said the campaign was briefed on 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 spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington said Friday they were not aware of the details and could not comment, but asserted that China routinely falls victim to cyber attacks and opposes the activity.

“The presidential elections are internal affairs of the United States. China has no intention and will not interfere in the US elections. We hope that the US will not make accusations against China during the elections,” the statement said.

Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung did not provide details of the Chinese operation but issued a statement accusing the Harris campaign of emboldening foreign adversaries, including China and Iran. Trump did not respond to shouted questions about whether his phone had been hacked by China as he left an event in Texas.

The FBI has repeatedly warned about Chinese hacking operations over the past year. with director Chris Wray telling Congress in January that researchers had disrupted a state-sponsored group known as Volt Typhoon. That operation disrupted a botnet of hundreds of US-based small office and home routers owned by individuals and businesses. Their ultimate targets included water treatment plants, the electrical grid and transportation systems in the US, with Wray warning that Beijing was positioning itself to disrupt the daily lives of Americans if the United States and China ever went to war.

Last month, Wray said the FBI had interrupted a separate Chinese government campaignCalled Typhoon Flax, it targeted universities, government agencies, and other organizations, installing malicious software on more than 200,000 consumer devices, including cameras, video recorders, and home and office routers.

The Wall Street Journal reported this month that Chinese hackers had burrowed into the networks of U.S. broadband providers and may have gained access to systems that law enforcement uses for wiretap requests.

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Michelle L. Price in New York and Jill Colvin in Austin, Texas contributed to this report.

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