It turns out that Chinese hackers have attempted to gain unauthorized access to the Harris and Trump campaigns in the US presidential elections
Ahead of the US presidential election on November 5, 2024, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) announced that hackers associated with the Chinese government had illegally accessed US communications infrastructure. According to the investigation, the attack was carried out by a hacker identified as 'Salt Typhoon,' and targeted staff members of both campaigns in the presidential election.
Joint Statement by FBI and CISA on People's Republic of China Activity Targeting Telecommunications — FBI
Joint Statement by FBI and CISA on PRC Activity Targeting Telecommunications | CISA
Chinese Hackers Are Said to Have Targeted Phones Used by Trump and Vance - The New York Times
China targeted phones of Trump, Vance and Harris campaign affiliates, sources say
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/china-phone-target-hack-trump-vance-harris-rcna177383
The joint statement from the FBI and CISA was brief, saying they were 'investigating unauthorized access to commercial communications infrastructure by Chinese government actors,' but did not include any information about who the unauthorized access was targeted at. However, major newspaper The New York Times reported that the attack was carried out by a hacker with ties to the Chinese government known as 'Salt Typhoon.'
The targets of the attack were staff of Kamala Harris' campaign and Donald Trump's campaign, with presidential candidate Trump and vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance also targeted on the Trump campaign side. NBC said it had received information from the Harris campaign that Senator Chuck Schumer had also been targeted.
It is not clear whether the devices were compromised or whether any information was stolen.
It has been pointed out that Salt Typhoon may have infiltrated multiple US ISPs by September 2024 and accessed surveillance systems used by law enforcement agencies.
Chinese hacker group 'Salt Typhoon' may have infiltrated the wiretapping system of law enforcement agencies via ISP - GIGAZINE
It has been reported that China, together with Russia and Iran, is conducting espionage activities targeting the presidential election. The unauthorized access by 'Salt Typhoon' is believed to have been an attempt to obtain information related to the presidential election.
In response to a question about the matter from NBC, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in the United States replied, 'We cannot comment as we are not aware of the specific situation. The presidential election is an internal matter of the United States, and China has no intention of interfering in or sticking its nose into the U.S. election. We hope that the U.S. side will refrain from criticizing China over the election.'
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in Security, Posted by logc_nt