Chinese hackers tried to hack into the mobile data of the Trump and Harris campaigns

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

The campaigns have been 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 the Wall Street Journal reported this on Friday, citing sources familiar with the campaign. matter.

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

The FBI and CISA said the investigation was ongoing and “we encourage any organization that believes it may be a victim to contact its local FBI field office or CISA. Agencies across the U.S. government are working together to aggressively mitigate this threat and strengthen coordination with our industry partners cyber defense in the commercial communications sector.”

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The hackers are believed to have ties to the Chinese government’s intelligence services, The Journal reports.

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“We are aware that a highly sophisticated nation-state actor has reportedly targeted several U.S. telecommunications providers for intelligence gathering purposes,” Verizon said in a statement. “We are working with federal law enforcement agencies, industry peers and third-party cyber experts to confirm, assess and remediate any impacts. Verizon is committed to assisting law enforcement in this investigation. As this is an active investigation, we have no additional comment at this time.”

The anonymous officials said investigators are working to find out whether data from the campaigns was stolen, adding that other people in the U.S. 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 meddling by Kamala Harris and the Democrats who will stop at nothing, including encouraging China and Iran to attack critical US infrastructure, to prevent President Trump from returning to the White House,” said Steven Cheung , communications director for the Trump campaign. , Fox News Digital told Friday.

3 hackers with ties to Iran charged in plot against Trump campaign: Doj

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 charged in connection with a hacking plot against the Trump campaign.

Iran tried to influence the election by sending stolen material from the Trump campaign to Biden’s camp, the FBI says

The three hackers, who are accused of working for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, were reportedly “involved in an extensive hacking campaign that used spear-phishing and social engineering techniques to target the accounts of current and former U.S. government officials and compromise. members of the media, non-governmental organizations, and individuals involved in U.S. political campaigns.”

“These documents were illegally obtained from foreign sources hostile to the United States with the intent to disrupt the 2024 election and sow chaos in our democratic process,” Trump campaign communications director Steven Cheung said in August after Politico had reported that the campaign had been targeted via spearfishing.

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

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

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

Original article source: Chinese hackers tried to hack into the mobile data of the Trump and Harris campaigns