Chinese hackers were involved in a large-scale espionage operation that targeted cellphones used by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance, and people associated with Kamala Harris’ Democratic campaign, people familiar with the matter said on Friday.
It was not immediately clear what data, if any, may have been accessed. U.S. officials are continuing the investigation, according to the people who were not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation publicly 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 communications infrastructure by PRC actors.”
“Agencies across the U.S. government are cooperating to aggressively mitigate this threat and are coordinating with our industry partners to strengthen cyber defenses across the commercial communications sector,” the FBI said.
The sources said US officials believe the campaigns were among many targets of a larger cyber espionage operation launched by China. It was not immediately clear what information China was hoping to obtain, although Beijing has for years engaged in widespread hacking campaigns aimed at collecting the private data of Americans and government employees, spying on technology and corporate secrets from major American companies and targeting American infrastructure. .
News that prominent political candidates and their campaigns have been targeted comes as US officials remain on high alert for foreign interference in the final stretch of the presidential campaign. Iranian hackers have been blamed for targeting Trump campaign officials, and the Justice Department has uncovered widespread disinformation campaigns organized by Russia, which is said to favor Trump over Harris.
By contrast, U.S. intelligence officials believe China is taking a neutral stance in the race and instead focusing on down-ballot races, targeting candidates from both parties based on where they stand on issues of key importance to Beijing, including support for China. Taiwan.
The New York Times first reported that Trump and Vance had been targeted, and said the campaign was informed of the development this week. Three people confirmed the news to the AP, including one person who said people associated with Harris’ campaign were also targeted.
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A spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington said on Friday that they were not aware of the details and could not comment, but stressed that China routinely falls victim to cyber attacks and opposes the activity.
“The presidential elections are the internal affairs of the United States. China has no intention and will not interfere in the US elections. We hope that the US side will not make accusations against China in the elections,” the statement said.
Trump campaign spokesman Stephen Cheung did not provide any details about the Chinese operation, but issued a statement accusing the Harris campaign of encouraging 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 over the past year about Chinese hacking operations, with its director, Chris Wray, telling Congress in January that investigators had disrupted a state-sponsored group known as Volt Typhoon. This operation disabled a botnet consisting of hundreds of small office and home routers located in the United States and owned by private citizens and companies. Their ultimate targets included water treatment plants, the electrical grid and transportation systems across the US, with Wray warning that Beijing is positioning itself to disrupt the daily lives of Americans if the US and China go to war.
Last month, Wray said the FBI stopped a separate Chinese government campaign, called Typhoon Flax, that targeted universities, government agencies and other organizations and installed malware on more than 200,000 consumer devices, including cameras, video recorders, and home and office space. Routers.
The Wall Street Journal reported this month that Chinese hackers had infiltrated the networks of broadband providers in the United States, potentially gaining access to systems used by law enforcement officials for wiretap requests.
Chinese cyber activity is widespread in other countries, targeting not only elections but also critical infrastructure – and Canada is not immune.
This week, the Canadian Center for Cyber Security said a state-sponsored threat actor from China conducted reconnaissance over several months this year against “several domains” in Canada, with the main targets being federal government departments and political parties. However, many organizations, defense sector and critical infrastructure have also been targeted.
— Michelle L. contributed to this report. Price from New York and Jill Colvin from Austin, Texas.
—With files from Global News’ Sean Preville and Sean Boynton
& Edition 2024 The Canadian Press
