AP sources: Chinese hackers targeted cellphones used by Trump and Vance

WASHINGTON (AP) — Chinese hackers have targeted cellphones used by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and his running mate, J.D. Vance, two people familiar with the matter said Friday.

It was not immediately clear what data, if any, was collected, but the people said U.S. officials are investigating. They were not authorized to publicly discuss an ongoing investigation and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

An FBI statement did not confirm that Trump and Vance were among 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 Trump and Vance are among the people whose phone numbers are believed to have been targeted and suspect it is part of a larger cyberespionage campaign launched by China, the person said.

The New York Times first reported that Trump and Pence were targeted and said the campaign was warned by US officials this week.

Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung did not provide details of the Chinese operation but issued a statement accusing Democrat Kamala Harris’ campaign of emboldening foreign adversaries, including China and Iran.

The FBI has repeatedly warned about Chinese hacking operations over the past year. while FBI Director Chris Wray told Congress in January that researchers had disrupted a state-sponsored group known as Volt Typhoon. That operation targeted U.S.-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

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

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Michelle L. Price in New York contributed to this report.