US Republican vice presidential candidate and Ohio federal senator JD Vance confirmed on Thursday that his mobile phone was compromised by Chinese entities through the monitoring infrastructure for counterterrorism and national security in the United States.
In an interview on the podcast show “The Joe Rogan Experience,” Vance disclosed that his phone was targeted by hackers affiliated with China. However, he mentioned that the majority of his information is communicated through third-party encrypted applications such as Signal, leading him to believe that his data is still somewhat protected.
“I don’t think they got much. We will find out. They obviously weren’t able to access encrypted information,” Vance stated.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) announced last Friday that they initiated an investigation into Chinese hackers infiltrating the US telecommunications industry infrastructure without authorization. The joint statement revealed that the US government is probing affiliated entities of the People’s Republic of China for the unauthorized intrusion into commercial telecommunications infrastructure.
Vance claimed that these Chinese hackers exploited monitoring systems set up by the US government earlier for counterterrorism and national security, infiltrating his phone through relevant backend infrastructure. These monitoring systems were established under the US Patriot Act and FISA Section 702.
He mentioned his belief that former President Trump’s phone was also targeted by Chinese hackers.
Authorities disclosed to Vance that this cyber attack is not an isolated incident, but rather a part of a large-scale infiltration operation known as “Salt Typhoon” by the Chinese Communist Party, aiming to penetrate and exploit US infrastructure.
FBI and CISA declined to comment.
As of the time of publication, the US Department of Justice had not responded to requests for comments.
The Epoch Times could not independently verify Vance’s statements.
This incident is not an isolated one. In another Chinese infiltration operation known as “Volt Typhoon,” Chinese hacker groups successfully penetrated thousands of US systems, including critical infrastructure like water and air traffic control systems.
Foreign interference in US elections has raised widespread concerns. Increasing evidence suggests that these attacks primarily originate from hacker groups in countries such as China, Russia, and Iran.
Trump’s campaign team has already faced one cyber attack previously, and this recent incident marks the second known breach. In an August phishing attack attributed to Iran, hackers supportive of Tehran breached an account of a member of Trump’s campaign team and leaked information to the media and the Biden administration.
Vance highlighted, “We are indeed facing a real problem.”
Foreign attempts to influence US elections are not new, but the current situation indicates a rise in the frequency and intensity of such interference, with new variations in the level of success. Particularly, China’s behavior in this election has become more aggressive, exceeding past levels of intrusiveness and influence.
A July election security memorandum from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) stated that the Chinese regime is “attempting to enhance its ability to collect and monitor data from US social media platforms, possibly to better understand—and ultimately manipulate—public opinion.”
Additionally, social media company Meta identified the Chinese-backed “Spamouflage” group as the world’s largest online influence operation and found that Chinese individuals or groups created approximately 4,800 fake American social media accounts.
A recent election security briefing by ODNI claimed that China “may not intend to influence” the outcome of US elections, a conclusion seemingly conflicting with earlier ODNI reports. A report from last year revealed that the Communist Party of China is more actively intervening in US elections than in any prior elections, given their expectation that the current government will not retaliate as severely as the Trump administration did.