The US government is investigating suspected efforts by Chinese hackers to tap data from phones used by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and his running mate J.D. Vance, as well as the campaign of their challenger, Vice-President Kamala Harris, American media reported on Friday.
The reports, citing people familiar with the matter, came out around the same time as the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) said they are investigating “unauthorised access to commercial telecommunications infrastructure by actors affiliated with the People’s Republic of China”.
“After the FBI identified specific malicious activity targeting the sector, the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) immediately notified affected companies, rendered technical assistance, and rapidly shared information to assist other potential victims,” the federal agencies said in a joint statement.
“The investigation is ongoing, and we encourage any organisation that believes it might be a victim to engage its local FBI field office or CISA,” they added.
The Trump campaign was made aware this week that Trump and Vance were among a number of people inside and outside government whose phone numbers were targeted through the infiltration of Verizon phone systems, it added.
