Chinese hackers targeted cellphones used by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, his vice presidential candidate JD Vance and people associated with Democrat Kamala Harris' campaign, sources briefed on the matter told the Associated Press on Monday.
While it is unclear what data, if any, may have been accessed, U.S. authorities are continuing to investigate, according to the sources, who were not authorized to speak publicly about the ongoing investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity.
A statement from the FBI did not confirm the identities of any of the hackers' potential targets, but said it was investigating "unauthorized access to commercial telecommunications infrastructure by actors affiliated with the People's Republic of China."
"Agencies across the U.S. government are aggressively collaborating to mitigate this threat and are coordinating with our industry partners to strengthen cyber defenses across the commercial communications sector," the FBI said.
U.S. officials believe the campaigns were among several targets of a broader cyberespionage operation launched by China, the AP sources said.
It was not immediately clear what information China hoped to gather, although Beijing has for years engaged in vast hacking campaigns aimed at collecting private data on Americans and government officials, spying on technology and corporate secrets from major U.S. companies and targeting U.S. infrastructure.
The news that high-profile political candidates and their campaigns have been targeted comes as U.S. officials remain on high alert for foreign interference in the final stretch of the presidential campaign.
Iranian hackers have been blamed for targeting Trump campaign officials, and the Justice Department has exposed vast Russian-orchestrated disinformation campaigns that allegedly favor Trump over Harris.
U.S. intelligence officials believe China, on the other hand, is taking a neutral stance in the race and is instead focused on electoral contests, targeting candidates from both parties based on their stance on issues of key importance to Beijing, including support for Taiwan.
The New York Times initially reported that Trump and Vance were targeted and said the Republican candidate’s campaign was notified of the developments this week.
Three people confirmed the report to the AP, including one who said people associated with Harris’ campaign were also targeted.
A spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington said Friday that he was not familiar with the details and could not comment, but said China is regularly the target of cyberattacks and opposes the activity.
“The presidential election is an internal affair of the United States. China has no intention and will not interfere in the U.S. election. We hope that the U.S. side will not make accusations against China in the election,” the statement said.
