Chinese hackers 'targeted phones of Donald Trump, JD Vance'

Chinese hackers have targeted mobile phones used by Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, his running mate JD Vance, and people associated with the Democratic campaign of Kamala Harris, people familiar with the matter report.

It was not immediately clear on Friday what data, if any, may have been accessed. US officials are investigating, according to the people, who were not authorised to publicly discuss the ongoing inquiry and spoke on the condition of anonymity to The Associated Press.

An FBI statement did not confirm that Trump and Vance were among the potential targets but said it was investigating “unauthorised access to commercial telecommunications infrastructure by actors affiliated with the People’s Republic of China”.

“Agencies across the US government are collaborating to aggressively mitigate this threat and are coordinating with our industry partners to strengthen cyber defences across the commercial communications sector,” the FBI said.

US officials believe the campaigns were among numerous targets of a larger cyberespionage operation launched by China, the people said. It was not immediately clear what information China may have hoped to glean, though Beijing has for years engaged in vast hacking campaigns aimed at collecting the private data of Americans and government workers, spying on technology and corporate secrets from major American companies and targeting US infrastructure.

News that high-profile political candidates were targeted comes as US 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 disinformation campaigns orchestrated by Russia, which is said to favour Trump over Democrat Kamala Harris.

China, by contrast, is believed by US intelligence officials to be taking a neutral stance in the race and is instead focused on down-ballot races, targeted candidates from both parties based on their stance on issues of key importance to Beijing, including support for Taiwan.

The New York Times first reported that Trump and Vance had been targeted and said the campaign was alerted by US officials this week. Three people confirmed the news to the AP, including one who said that people associated with the Harris campaign were also targeted.

A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington said they were not familiar with the specifics and could not comment, but contended that China is routinely victimised by cyber attacks and opposes the activity.

“The presidential elections are the United States’ domestic affairs. China has no intention and will not interfere in the US election. We hope that the US side will not make accusations against China in the election,” the statement said.

Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung did not offer any details about the Chinese operation but issued a statement accusing the Harris campaign of having emboldened foreign adversaries, including China and Iran.