By New York Post (U.S.) | Created at 2024-10-29 22:52:36 | Updated at 2024-10-30 03:27:24
4 hours ago
Hackers tied to China targeted members of the Trump family, State Department officials and Harris-Biden administration aides during a shocking breach of US telecommunications systems, a new report says.
The criminals took aim at dozens of powerfully connected Americans including Eric Trump, Jared Kushner, Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign staffers, diplomatic personnel, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and other officials, sources told the New York Times on Tuesday.
“Does this surprise anyone? Under Kamala and Biden, China has walked all over our country,” Eric Trump told the outlet in response to the news.
A source close to Kushner told The Post, “Everybody’s been trying to hack Jared, and that’s been the case for the past nine years, and there’s no indication that anyone got access to the data.”
Investigators are not sure how much of others’ data may have been collected during the breach.
Last week, the outlet reported that phones belonging to former President Donald Trump and his running mate JD Vance were targeted by the group.
“This is the continuation of election interference by Kamala Harris and Democrats who will stop at nothing, including emboldening China and Iran attacking critical American infrastructure, to prevent President Trump from returning to the White House,” Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said at the time.
In a joint statement, the US government’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the FBI confirmed Friday that there had been “unauthorized access to commercial telecommunications infrastructure by actors affiliated with the People’s Republic of China.”
CISA and the FBI stopped short of identifying the targets.
Some cybersecurity experts have alleged that the attack came from Salt Typhoon, a group with ties to China. But investigators cautioned that the inquiry is still ongoing.
Salt Typhoon allegedly carried out advanced cyber attacks on behalf of the Chinese government in the past.
FBI investigators examining the situation have surmised that the cyber intruders may have been able to get to unencrypted SMS text messages and call logs on several devices.
Additionally, some audio correspondence may have been breached as well, according to the report.
The hack reportedly penetrated Verizon’s phone systems.
The Trump-Vance campaign did not respond to a Post request for comment Tuesday.
Authorities had uncovered a Salt Typhoon breach into US telecommunications systems earlier this year and raised concerns that the digital intrusion could risk information amassed with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, in which the government compiles foreign intelligence on domestic soil.
Concerns about foreign cyber hackers have loomed over the 2024 presidential election.
Earlier this year, operatives linked to Tehran targeted the Trump-Vance campaign with a phishing scheme that enabled it to gain access to an account, the Justice Department said.
From there, the Iranian-linked hackers allegedly obtained a dossier compiled on behalf of the campaign detailing potential political liabilities regarding Vance and sent it to multiple media outlets.
That dossier was later published by journalist Ken Klippenstein.
Iran is widely believed to be interested in working to tip the election against Trump.
Tehran allegedly concocted a scheme to potentially assassinate the former president as well, according to federal prosecutors.
Officials familiar with the recent hack linked to China have claimed that Beijing doesn’t appear to be trying to tip the presidential election one way or another but does have interest in congressional races.
The officials have said China is not particularly seeking to elevate Trump or Harris in the race but, rather, is hoping for specific outcomes in certain congressional races.
Last year, hackers linked to China had breached the emails of a number of US officials such as Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, who later confirmed the crime.
Neither the the Chinese embassy in Washington nor the US State Department responded to Post requests for comment.
