On Friday, October 25th, a source revealed that a hacker group associated with the Chinese Communist Party has breached the mobile phone system of the American company Verizon, attempting to steal data from Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and his running mate, Federal Senator JD Vance. Even members of Kim Hee-kyung’s campaign team have become targets of the attack.
It was reported by the media that Trump’s campaign team learned about the incident this week, and investigators are currently determining if Trump and Vance’s communication data has been compromised. Assessment indicates that this attack is not an isolated incident but rather a targeted attack on multiple government officials and individuals, with Trump and Vance just being among the many victims.
It is believed that the hackers gained access to Trump and Vance’s phone numbers through a successful intrusion into Verizon’s phone system, and victims associated with Kim Hee-kyung’s campaign activities have suffered similar attacks.
Trump’s campaign team has not confirmed whether Trump and Vance’s phones were breached.
Steven Cheung, the communications director for Trump’s campaign team, stated that Kim Hee-kyung’s policies or actions have emboldened China and Iran to attack American infrastructure more aggressively, with the aim of preventing Trump from being reelected as president.
Kim Hee-kyung’s campaign team has not issued any comments on the matter.
Verizon stated that the company has detected a clear intelligence-gathering operation targeting the American telecommunications industry and is currently cooperating with law enforcement in the investigation.
On Friday, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) announced that they are investigating whether certain individuals associated with China have unauthorized access to American commercial telecommunications infrastructure.
Earlier this year, Trump’s campaign team was subjected to attacks by Iranian hackers. The U.S. Department of Justice has charged three members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard for attempting to interfere with the November 5th election.