Campaigns for each Vice President Kamala Harris and President-elect Donald Trump have been targeted by foreign hackers. A cybersecurity provider finds that campaign staffers’ iPhones can have been exploited. (Photo by Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)
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TThe FBI is investigating whether China used its access to American telecommunications networks to contaminate the iPhones of senior aides to a U.S. presidential campaign, in response to a cybersecurity expert working on protecting the officials’ devices.
Rocky Cole, the founding father of mobile security startup iVerify, shared Forbes His company’s software reported unusual behavior on two iPhones belonging to high-ranking presidential campaign officials. He declined to specify which one.
Cole, a former NSA analyst and Google worker, said iVerify found that settings on employees’ iPhones were being modified “in patterns not observed on healthy devices.” Previously, mobile malware developed by government hacking groups had modified settings in the identical way, he said. “This does not mean that the devices were definitely compromised, but this information, along with the owner of the devices and the timelines of events, was enough to warrant a thorough investigation, which is ongoing,” Cole said Forbes.
“The Trump administration must immediately take strong action to address the recent surge in cyber activity.”
The FBI confirmed to Cole that one among the affected iPhones belonged to a goal of a Chinese cyber espionage group called Salt Typhoon, he said. According to reports within the Wall Street Journal, The networks of several telecommunications giants, including AT&T and Verizon, have been attacked by Salt Typhoon, an entity believed to be working on behalf of China’s state security service. The newspaper cited various sources aware of the matter as saying the attackers targeted the communications of President Trump, his Vice President JD Vance and folks working on President Kamala Harris’ campaign. Neither the Harris nor Trump campaigns responded to requests for comment.
“The timeline of anomalous behavior was consistent with Salt Typhoon’s behavior within the Verizon network,” Cole said. “We need to assume that China, with its position in Verizon’s infrastructure, would do greater than just hearken to phone conversations. It’s a beautiful position for broader use of neighboring networks and devices. For this reason, an investigation is underway to find out whether these devices were actually hacked.” His company has been tasked with protecting public officials’ iPhones through its work with the nonpartisan nonprofit Defending Digital Campaigns, which provides candidates and employees with access to free cybersecurity tools.
If the FBI finds that a candidate or one among their associates’ iPhone was hacked, that may be a big breach. Infecting a smartphone allows greater access to details about a goal than is feasible via telecommunications networks. Such malware would potentially have access to the phone’s microphone, calls and text messages, encrypted communications equivalent to messages sent via WhatsApp and Signal, in addition to more private information stored in health and dating apps, in addition to detailed location information.
Apple declined to comment. Neither the FBI nor Verizon responded to requests for comment.
Liu Pengyu, a spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington DC, denied that it was behind any attacks on the US and said “no Intention and will not interfere in the US elections,” he added: “In recent years, the US has collected and spread all kinds of disinformation about the so-called Chinese hacking threats. Such accusations are full of malicious speculation against China, which China strongly opposes.”
American officials and cyber experts imagine China poses a serious cyber threat to the United States. Chris Krebs, former head of the DHS Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), said China must be a top priority for the brand new Trump administration. In November 2020, Trump fired Krebs on Twitter after the previous CISA chief declared that yr’s election legitimate and secure from outside influence.
“Given China’s increasingly aggressive behavior in multiple areas, the Trump administration must aggressively combat the recent surge in cyber activity,” Krebs said. “They must continue to evaluate offensive cyber options… The stakes are very clear: China is preparing for war, isn’t it?”
