Members of former President Donald Trump’s family, as well as Biden administration and State Department officials, were among those targeted by the China-linked hackers who were able to break into telecommunications company systems, according to people familiar with the matter.
The sophisticated hacking operation has alarmed national security officials and appears to have targeted a substantial but focused list of people whose communications would be of interest to the Chinese government. The list of known targets is fewer than 100 individuals, these people said, speaking on condition of anonymity to describe a sensitive ongoing investigation.
The list of targeted phones includes devices used by high-profile people, including Trump, his son Eric Trump and his son-in-law Jared Kushner. The list also includes members of Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign staff, as well as diplomatic, government and policy experts who are largely unknown to the general public but would hold significant interest to Chinese officials eager to learn more about internal U.S. policy-making, these people said. It is unclear what, if any, data was taken from those individuals.
In a statement, Eric Trump sought to blame the Biden administration for the hacking of the telecommunications networks, saying, “Does this surprise anyone? Under Kamala and Biden, China has walked all over our country.”
An aide to Kushner did not respond to an email seeking comment. Steven Cheung, a spokesperson for the Trump campaign, said Donald Trump “will actually stand up against our enemies and defend the United States from any and all aggression.”
The Trump campaign team was notified last week that phones used by Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, were among those targeted through the infiltration of Verizon phone systems. Others targeted by the hackers have been receiving similar notifications from U.S. authorities.
Democrats, including an aide to Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, the majority leader, were also targeted, the people said.
The investigation is continuing, but FBI and national security officials are deeply concerned about the potential extent of compromised data and the wide range of possible victims. U.S. authorities have publicly attributed the hacking to “actors affiliated with” the Chinese government.
Western cybersecurity circles have attributed the hack to a group they call Salt Typhoon, which has a history of carrying out sophisticated cyberoperations to benefit Chinese intelligence work. People familiar with the high-profile national security case cautioned that the investigation was ongoing and that officials’ understanding of the breach could change.
FBI investigators think the hackers may have been able to access unencrypted SMS text messages on the targeted devices, as well as call logs, according to people familiar with the investigation. They said there was also evidence indicating that audio communications were captured, though it was not immediately clear whether that meant voicemail or phone call conversations.
U.S. security officials discovered this year that Salt Typhoon hackers had broken into American telecommunications systems, raising major alarms within the government that national security secrets could be vulnerable through previously unrecognized vulnerabilities in cellphone networks.
At the outset, investigators were particularly concerned that the hackers might be targeting the names or data collected under Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court orders — the government’s most secretive type of surveillance, meant to root out spies and terrorists.
It was only recently that investigators discovered another apparent line of attack by the Salt Typhoon hackers — specific phone numbers used by senior government officials, or their close advisers and aides. Security officials are still trying to determine precisely what data or communications were taken.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
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