Cyberwarfare / Nation-State Attacks
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Election Security
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Fraud Management & Cybercrime
The FBI said Friday afternoon it is investigating Chinese nation-state hacking into to commercial telecommunications infrastructure following a news report that Beijing actors targeted data from campaign phones used by Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance.
See Also: Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity & Risk Monitoring: Elections Infrastructure
In a terse statement that doesn’t reference Trump, the bureau said it “identified specific malicious activity targeting the sector” and, together with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency, notified affected companies and provided technical assistance.
The New York Times reported earlier in the day that Trump and Vance are among a number of Verizon customers inside and outside of government whose phone numbers have been targets for Chinese cyberespionage.
“People briefed on the matter said Democrats were among the targets, including prominent figures on Capitol Hill and possibly staff members of Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign,” the Times reported.
In an emailed statement, Verizon spokesman Rich Young said the company is “aware that a highly sophisticated nation-state actor has reportedly targeted several U.S. telecommunications providers to gather intelligence.” The telecom, America’s largest wireless provider, is “working to confirm, assess and remediate any potential impact,” Young added.
Investigators are uncertain whether Chinese hackers stole data, the Times reported. The Washington Post reported that it is also uncertain whether attempts to penetrate the phones of Trump and Vance were successful. “The hack is believed to have compromised the phones of staffers,” it reported. Both newspapers stated that officials notified the Trump campaign earlier this week about the hacking.
The attacks come as the federal government probes another breach of the U.S. telecom infrastructure tied to Chinese nation-state hackers perpetuated by a group tracked as Salt Typhoon. The group reportedly infiltrated broadband provider infrastructure used to comply with court-authorized wiretaps of subscribers’ networking traffic. Affected companies include Verizon, AT&T and Lumen Technologies (see: Feds Probe Chinese ‘Salt Typhoon’ Hack of Major Telcos).
The 2024 U.S. election campaign has been marked by high levels of foreign disinformation and attempted interference. Chinese interference does not have a notable partisan tilt, multiple experts say. One new development is Chinese operators targeting down ballot elections where disinformation may have greater resonance.
Computing giant Microsoft warned in a Wednesday blog post that Russia, Iran and China are intensifying influence operations as the Nov. 5 polling date comes nearer.