Chinese hackers who infiltrated Verizon’s system have targeted phones used by individuals affiliated with Kamala Harris’s campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, according to a source familiar with the matter. Media reports indicate that Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and his running mate, JD Vance, were also targeted, although Reuters could not verify these claims.
The New York Times reported that investigators are working to ascertain whether any communications were compromised from Trump and Vance.
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The Trump campaign was informed this week that their phone numbers were among those targeted through the breach of Verizon’s phone systems, though the campaign did not confirm the specific targeting of Trump and Vance.
Steven Cheung, the communications director for the Trump campaign, asserted that Vice President Harris has empowered adversarial nations like China and Iran to attack U.S. infrastructure to impede Trump’s potential return to office. While the Chinese embassy in Washington stated it opposes all forms of cyber-attacks and theft, it denied any intention to interfere in U.S. elections.
The Harris campaign did not respond to requests for comment. Earlier this year, the Trump campaign itself was hacked, leading to charges against three members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps for attempting to disrupt the upcoming election.
The FBI and the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency announced they are investigating unauthorized access to commercial telecommunications infrastructure linked to China, although they did not specify the targeted entities.
Verizon acknowledged the sophisticated attempts to target U.S. telecoms for intelligence gathering and confirmed it is cooperating with law enforcement.
