Chinese hackers are said to have targeted the cellphones of former president Donald Trump and running mate J.D. Vance as part of an effort to collect the GOP presidential ticket’s data, according to a new report.
The cyber actors tried breaking into Verizon’s phone systems and may have gained access to data or text messages belonging to Trump and Vance, U.S. national-security sources told the New York Times on Friday. Though many details are unknown at this time, a China-backed group known as Salt Typhoon is believed to be the source of the cyberattack.
Trump’s campaign was notified of the cyberespionage campaign this week. Other people were also reportedly targeted, including Democratic lawmakers on Capitol Hill and possibly some staff members of Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign. It’s said to have major implications for national security.
In a joint statement, the FBI and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) said they “are collaborating to aggressively mitigate this threat and are coordinating with our industry partners to strengthen cyberdefenses across the commercial communications sector.” The agencies added they notified potential victims without identifying them. The investigation remains ongoing.
It remains unclear whether the Chinese hackers are still inside Verizon’s telecommunications systems and, if so, whether they are actively extracting data.
Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung blamed the matter on the Biden administration and Harris for allowing one of America’s chief adversaries to target a presidential campaign, according to the Times. He did not address whether Trump and Vance’s phones were targeted.
Security officials discovered earlier this year that a Chinese hacking group was targeting American telecommunications systems. Only recently did the U.S. find that the group was trying to hack specific phone numbers.
Salt Typhoon infiltrated Verizon, AT&T, and Lumen Technologies to potentially access information from systems that the federal government uses for court-ordered network wiretapping requests, the Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month. Security officials first made the newspaper aware of Salt Typhoon’s cyberattacks in late September.
Republicans on the House Homeland Security Committee, including Chairman Mark Green (R., Tenn.), sent a letter to the FBI and CISA last Friday, requesting a briefing from both agencies by November 1 on the reported Salt Typhoon hacks.
Rich Young, a Verizon spokesman, said the company was “aware that a highly sophisticated nation-state actor has reportedly targeted several U.S. telecommunications providers to gather intelligence.” He noted Verizon is cooperating with federal agencies in their investigation.