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Chinese hackers breach parts of US telecom system, target Trump, Harris campaigns

washington — Hackers linked to the Chinese government have broken into parts of the U.S. telecommunications system in a breach that might be connected to an attempt to access data from the presidential campaigns of Republican nominee Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris.  

The FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency late Friday said they were investigating “unauthorized access” to commercial telecommunications infrastructure, attributing the attack to Chinese-affiliated actors.

The agencies said they immediately notified affected companies once the breach was detected and had offered assistance, though there might be additional victims.

“The investigation is ongoing, and we encourage any organization that believes it might be a victim to engage its local FBI field office or CISA,” the statement said.

“Agencies across the U.S. government are collaborating to aggressively mitigate this threat and are coordinating with our industry partners to strengthen cyber defenses across the commercial communications sector,” it added.

The Chinese Embassy in Washington dismissed the U.S. hacking allegations as disinformation, calling the U.S. “the origin and the biggest perpetrator of cyberattacks.”

“For some time, the U.S. has compiled and spread all kinds of disinformation about the so-called Chinese hacking threats,” said embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu in an email to VOA.

“China’s position is consistent and clear,” he said. “China firmly opposes and combats cyberattacks and cyber theft in all forms.”

Word of the breach linked to China followed a report by The New York Times on Friday that Chinese hackers are thought to have broken into telecommunications networks to target the Trump campaign.

People familiar with the investigation told the Times that the Chinese hackers specifically looked to access data from phones used by Trump and his running mate, Republican Senator JD Vance.

Separately, a person familiar with the investigation told VOA that people affiliated with the campaign of Vice President Harris were also targeted. 

Investigators are still trying to determine what data the hackers were able to get, if any, and whether the hackers could listen in on conversations in real time.  

The FBI declined to comment on the Trump and Harris campaign breaches.

In a statement shared with VOA, the Trump campaign acknowledged the breach and blamed Harris for letting it happen.

“This is the continuation of election interference by Kamala Harris and Democrats who will stop at nothing, including emboldening China and Iran attacking critical American infrastructure, to prevent President Trump from returning to the White House,” said Steven Cheung, the Trump campaign communications director.

“Their dangerous and violent rhetoric has given permission to those who wish to harm President Trump,” Cheung added.

The Trump campaign did not respond to questions asking for more details on how Harris or her campaign enabled the Chinese hack.

The Harris campaign has yet to respond to VOA’s request for comment.

U.S. intelligence agencies have warned for months that foreign adversaries have been using a combination of cyberattacks and influence operations to meddle with the November 5 U.S. presidential election.

According to a declassified intelligence assessment issued this week, “foreign actors — particularly Russia, Iran and China — remain intent on fanning divisive narratives to divide Americans and undermine Americans’ confidence in the U.S. democratic system consistent with what they perceive to be in their interests.”

It further warned that Russia and Iran were formulating plans to spark election-related violence.

In addition, reports issued this week by private cybersecurity firms likewise indicated a significant uptick in activity by actors linked to Russia, China and Iran.

All three nations have repeatedly denied accusations of election meddling.

And while U.S. intelligence officials assess there is little agreement among the three countries on the desired outcomes of the presidential election — Russia is said to want a Trump win, Iran is said to be rooting for Harris, and China sees both as equally bad — the Trump campaign has become a frequent target of attacks.

Last month, the U.S. Justice Department charged three Iranian hackers tied to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in connection with a hack-and-leak operation seeking to undermine Trump’s reelection bid.

U.S. intelligence officials have also accused Iran of trying to ensnare the campaign of current U.S. President Joe Biden before he stepped down in favor of Harris.

But U.S. security officials have been even more leery of China.

U.S. agencies, led by CISA and the FBI, have been warning that China-linked hackers have burrowed into U.S. computer systems and networks, in some case hiding for years.

The China-linked group, known as Volt Typhoon, has been “positioning itself to launch destructive cyberattacks that would jeopardize the physical safety of Americans,” according to an advisory issued in February.

“What we’ve found to date is likely the tip of the iceberg,” CISA Director Jen Easterly said in a statement at the time.
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When U.S. voters head to the polls to choose a president on November 5, they will also be choosing who controls Congress. The winners will be key to the new president’s enactment of a legislative agenda. VOA Congressional Correspondent Katherine Gypson looks at key races around the country.
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New evidence China, Russia and Iran targeting US elections

WASHINGTON — There is new evidence China, Iran and Russia are aggressively expanding their efforts to influence American voters to potentially sway the result of the upcoming U.S. elections.

Two threat intelligence reports Wednesday, one from software giant Microsoft and the other from the cybersecurity firm Recorded Future, detail growing activity by cyber actors linked to each country — all aiming to impact U.S. public perceptions with less than two weeks before voters go to the polls.

The biggest change, according to Microsoft, comes from Chinese-linked actors known to researchers as Spamouflage or Taizi Flood.

“Chinese influence operations have recently taken a new turn, shifting focus to several down-ballot candidates and members of Congress,” Microsoft said, noting that starting in September, China has targeted at least four prominent Republican lawmakers, all of whom are known critics of the government in Beijing.

Most recently, the Chinese-linked accounts targeted Texas Republican Michael McCaul, accusing the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee of “abusing power for personal gain.” 

Late last month, other Spamouflage began going after Tennessee Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn, Microsoft said. And earlier this month, the same effort began promoting Blackburn’s opponent in the November 5 election.

Other targets include Alabama Republican Representative Barry Moore, who was subjected to content criticizing his support for Israel, and the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Republican Marco Rubio, who was accused of corruption.

The Chinese Embassy in Washington rejected the allegations in the Microsoft report.

“The presidential elections are the United States’ domestic affairs,” embassy spokesman Liu Pengyu told VOA Wednesday, echoing previous Chinese denials. 

“Such allegations are full of malicious speculations against China, which China firmly opposes,” he added.

U.S. lawmakers, however, said they were not surprised by the uptick in malign activity.

“The CCP [Chinese Communist Party] cannot stand anyone who supports and gives a voice to those they oppress; their response is to sanction and attack,” McCaul said in a statement to VOA. 

“I consider it a badge of honor when the CCP — a leading abuser of human rights, censor of free speech, and oppressor of its own people — takes issue with my work,” he said. 

Rubio, the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, called for the Chinese influence efforts to “be taken very seriously.”

“China is becoming increasingly more aggressive,” Rubio said in a statement to VOA. “China’s goal is to shape American opinion on critical issues and target specific candidates, especially those they view as anti-China.”

Growing threats

The reports from Microsoft and Recorded Future warn Beijing is not alone.

Specifically, the reports caution the Russian-linked cyber actors, known to researchers as Storm-1679 or Operation Overload, have increased their pace of operations over the past month and a half and are showing signs that more influence operations are on the way.

“Operation Overload is very likely to ramp up its activities,” said the Recorded Future report.

Recorded Future said many of the Russian efforts, of late, have sought to provoke anger toward the LGBTQ+ community “using disinformation to perpetuate discriminatory beliefs around transgender individuals, perceived behavioral issues, gender transition and reassignment surgeries, and pharmaceutical treatments.”

Other influence operations, the report said, are making use of AI-generated voiceovers to emulate the style of U.S. broadcast journalists.

Microsoft said the Russian cyber actors also have found ways to reach additional U.S. voters by shifting much of the content from the Telegram social media platform to X.

“Storm-1679 videos posted to X received higher levels of engagement,” Microsoft said.

Microsoft researchers also warned there are signs Iran is also ramping up its election interference efforts.

The Microsoft report says that in one instance, less than two weeks ago, “an online persona operated by Iran began falsely posing as an American and called on Americans to boycott the elections due to both candidates’ support for Israel’s military operations.”

Russia and Iran, like China, have repeatedly denied any involvement in efforts to meddle with the U.S. election.

But the new findings from Microsoft and Recorded Future align with assessments from U.S. intelligence officials.

“Foreign actors — particularly Russia, Iran and China — remain intent on fanning divisive narratives to divide Americans and undermine Americans’ confidence in the U.S. democratic system consistent with what they perceive to be in their interests,” according to a declassified assessment issued Tuesday by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

U.S. intelligence officials have previously said Russia has been working to boost the chances of former president and current Republican nominee Donald Trump, while Iran has been working to hurt Trump’s reelection bid and instead buoy the campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee.

And while there is little evidence to suggest China has sought to affect the U.S. presidential race, intelligence officials have said Beijing has been focusing its efforts on congressional and state and local candidates perceived to be promoting policies detrimental to Beijing’s interests.
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US Justice Department warns Musk’s super PAC over $1 million giveaways

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Justice Department has sent a letter to Elon Musk’s super PAC warning that the billionaire Tesla CEO’s $1 million giveaways may violate federal law, several media organizations reported on Wednesday, citing people briefed on the matter.

A letter from the department’s public integrity section, which investigates potential election-related law violations, went to the PAC.

The Justice Department and Musk’s America PAC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

South African-born Musk, who has thrown his support behind Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump ahead of the November 5 election, announced on Saturday while speaking before a crowd in Pennsylvania that he was giving away $1 million each day until Election Day to someone who signs his online petition supporting the U.S. Constitution.

He handed $1 million checks to two separate people over the weekend — one to a man in Harrisburg on Saturday and another to a woman in Pittsburgh on Sunday.

Musk, ranked by Forbes as the world’s richest person, so far has supplied at least $75 million to America PAC, according to federal disclosures, making the group a crucial part of Trump’s bid to regain the White House.
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Voting for Harris another milestone in former President Jimmy Carter’s legacy

Plains, Ga. — In a cavernous store filled with trinkets and knick-knacks, Philip Kurland is surrounded by politics.

“We’re the largest political memorabilia dealer in the United States,” he tells VOA as he sorts through numerous bins that line his shop.

If there’s a button or badge supporting a political candidate, chances are Kurland has it, as he stops and inspects one button in particular.

“This is the number one button people request and come in for,” as he proudly shows an image of a smiling peanut shell.

Every four years, Kurland stocks up on items featuring the candidates of the moment, and gauges support by the volume of related memorabilia he sells.

“Our sales have always equaled to who has won,” said Kurland. “This year’s election is really hard to even say by my sales.”

His store isn’t just any ordinary shop in the country. It’s the Plains Trading Post … as in Plains, Georgia, the hometown of former U.S. President Jimmy Carter with a population of around 600 people, where the streets are lined with dueling signs from the current election supporting both Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump.

“For the first time ever, I’d say there was some tension over the upcoming election,” Kurland told VOA.

In 2020, Democrat Joe Biden won Sumter County which encompasses Plains, and narrowly won the state of Georgia by 11,779 votes out of more than 5 million cast.

“It’s shocking that we’re a battleground state now,” said Kurland, acknowledging that polls continue to show a close race in Georgia this election cycle where both campaigns recognize every vote counts, including a prominent one cast by mail-in ballot from the most famous resident of Plains.

“I don’t think he’d miss any opportunity to vote,” said Kurland, “I can remember one time when they passed a new law in the state that you had to show an ID, and he went to vote and didn’t have an ID, and they said, ‘you can’t vote.’

And he said, ‘I’m the president of the United States!’ and they said, ‘well, we’re sorry,’ and he had to go home and get an ID to vote, which I thought was hilarious.”

“He was excited to turn 100, but he’s more excited to cast his ballot for Vice President Harris,” Jason Carter, Jimmy Carter’s grandson, explained to VOA during a recent interview.

Jason Carter currently serves as chairman of the board of the former president’s global nonprofit Carter Center.

“It would be an incredible story, at the end of his 100-year life, that is continuing on as we know, to have grown up in the segregated south and for one of his last political acts is to help elect a Black woman who is a president, I do think it would be important,” he said.

“Jimmy Carter has already said it was important for him to vote for Barack Obama in 2008,” said Joe Crespino, a professor of history at Emory University.

Crespino believes Carter’s vote this year is directly connected to his legacy, specifically his efforts to get the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, or ERA — which prohibits sex discrimination — ratified by some U.S. states while he was president in the 1970s.

“Voting for the first female candidate of color would be important for him not only because of his experiences with race over the course of his life but also his experiences in trying to advance women in public life,” he said.

More than 40 years after Carter served in the White House, the ERA is still an unsettled issue as legal debates over its ratification continue.

Jason Carter believes with a vote in the 2024 election, his grandfather is thinking as much about the future as he is the past.

“I think he wants to see this country brought back together,” said Carter. “I think he wants to reduce that polarization; I think he wants us to focus on what makes us Americans first and fundamentally, and I think he thinks she [Harris] can do that.”

Kurland said not everyone in Plains agrees with Jimmy Carter, or his candidate of choice, as he sees not just the tourists but some of the locals stopping in to pick up memorabilia.

“Some days you can’t get eight people to say the sun is shining at the same time,” he said.

But Kurland admits everyone in Plains honors the man who continues to draw tens of thousands of tourists to their small town each year.

“Even though he’s come out for Kamala Harris, everyone that’s not for her would instantly forgive him and still love him,” Kurland said.

As election day nears, Jimmy Carter continues to receive hospice care in his modest home in Plains on the edge of town, not far from the Depression-era boyhood farm where his story began 100 years ago.
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