Chinese hackers allegedly intercept calls, texts of Trump, Harris campaigns ahead of 2024 US election

Chinese state-linked hackers reportedly intercepted calls and text messages involving prominent US political figures, including a Trump campaign adviser, reported by The Washington Post on Sunday.

Salt Typhoon

This espionage operation, allegedly led by a hacker group known as Salt Typhoon, has targeted campaign staff from both the Republican and Democratic parties.

According to the Post report, the security breach reportedly targeted phones linked to former President Donald Trump and his running mate JD Vance.

Previously, news agency Reuters on Friday reported that Chinese hackers targeted people affiliated with the campaign of Democratic Party candidate Vice President Kamala Harris.

This significant breach in US telecommunications security so close to the 2024 US elections has raised concerns about information integrity.

On Friday, the FBI and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) said they were actively investigating, with preliminary findings pointing to unauthorised access to at least 10 major US carriers including Verizon AT&T, Lumen and potentially others.

The hackers reportedly accessed unencrypted communications, including audio calls, text messages, and phone logs.

While both campaigns were informed last week of the intrusion, the FBI has not confirmed whether the hackers accessed specific call content.

As per the report citing two people familiar with the matter, the number of victims identified to date stands at fewer than 100. However, more names may yet emerge as the investigation continues. The relatively low number of victim count, as per the report citing a former senior US cyber operations official, may be because hackers saw the victims and the access they have, as "exquisite" and highly valuable.

Trump campaign blames Harris

The Trump campaign has sought to blame the White House and Harris's team for allowing a foreign adversary to infiltrate US companies to target the campaign.

US authorities have convened a "unified coordination group" and a public-private Cyber Safety Review Board to conduct a thorough investigation.

The Chinese Embassy in Washington denied knowledge of the hacking operations, reiterating China's stance against cyber intrusions.

On Friday, the FBI in a joint release with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency publicly confirmed the breach for the first time and said: "The US government is investigating the unauthorised access to commercial telecommunications infrastructure by actors affiliated with the People’s Republic of China".

(With inputs from agencies)