Chinese hackers allegedly targeted phones used by Donald Trump and running mate JD Vance in a breach of a telecommunications network, a new report claims.
The Trump campaign was informed earlier this week that the telephone numbers of the Republican presidential candidate and his running mate had been leaked. The New York Times reported.
Staff were alerted that data may have been accessed through the sophisticated hack.
It was believed to be part of an infiltration of the Verizon phone systems.
Investigators are trying to find out if any data was taken during the hack of phones used by politicians and government workers.
It’s just the latest example of a foreign actor trying to illegally influence the US election.
Chinese hackers allegedly targeted phones used by Donald Trump and Kamala Harris in a telecommunications network breach, a new report claims
The Justice Department late last month accused Iranian hackers of hacking Trump’s campaign in an attempt to interfere in the election.
Even information about who Trump and Vance called and texted would be valuable information — regardless of whether it would yield information about the content or not.
It would enable further hacking operations targeting their contacts and reveal information about who is still in their circle.
This election, there have already been reports that Trump and his top supporter Elon Musk have been in contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin – a sign that the mere existence of a contact could cause a stir politically.
The hack also targeted Senator JD Vance
Officials say the Trump campaign was notified of the breach this week.
Trump is a regular cell phone user (although he is not believed to be a texter), and regularly drops public hints about the high-profile people he has contacted.
In recent days he revealed a telephone conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Trump famously spoke about Russian hacking during the 2016 campaign when he said, “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you can find the 30,000 missing emails. I think you will probably be richly rewarded by our press. ‘
According to former special counsel Robert Mueller, the Russians began conducting spearfishing attacks on Clinton-affiliated email addresses around that time.
That election allegedly included a series of hacked revelations posted to WikiLeaks.
Hackers with ties to Beijing have broken into multiple internet service providers, the Wall Street Journal reported late last month. It was part of a campaign researcher called Salt Typhoon.
Relations between the US and China have been tense for years. Trump imposed tariffs on Beijing that remained in place under Joe Biden. China has maintained close ties with Russia even during the war against Ukraine. And a Chinese spy balloon incident caused a fury as it made its way across the US
Biden sought to put relations on a more stable footing with his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in California in April. Both Biden and Xi will attend the upcoming APEC summit in Lima, Peru.
