Chinese government-linked hackers allegedly intercepted calls and text messages implicating high-profile political figures from the U.S., including advisers associated with former President Donald Trump.
The leak has been attributed to a hacker group known as Salt Typhoon, which has comprised campaign staff from the Republican and Democratic parties. The breach involved phones associated with Trump and his running mate, JD Vance.
Chinese hackers targeted individuals associated with US Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign. This colossal breach in US telecommunication security, in view of the 2024 elections, has certainly raised some serious questions over information integrity.
As of last Friday, active investigations into the incident were announced by the FBI and CISA. Preliminary findings show unauthorized access to at least ten major US carriers, including Verizon, AT&T, and Lumen, but possibly others.
The hackers reportedly accessed unencrypted communications, including audio calls, text messages, and phone logs. The intrusion was said to have been discovered last week, although the FBI alerted both campaigns, which did not confirm that specific call content had been accessed.
People close to the investigation say fewer than 100 victims have been identified, but that number may increase as the inquiry unfolds. The former senior U.S. cyber operations official cited the relatively small number of victims as potentially indicative that the hackers saw the access as “exquisite” and highly valued.
In turn, the Trump campaign has wasted no time in pointing fingers, charging that the White House and Harris’s team are aiding and abetting the work of foreign agents interfering in U.S. political affairs.
The U.S. has established a “unified coordination group” and a public-private Cyber Safety Review Board to launch an in-depth investigation. Meanwhile, the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C., denied any knowledge of the hacking and reiterated China’s opposition to cyber intrusions.
The FBI and CISA did not say more until Friday when they publicly confirmed the breach for the first time: “The U.S. government is investigating the unauthorized access to commercial telecommunications infrastructure by actors affiliated with the People’s Republic of China.”
