Chinese Hackers Allegedly Tap Trump Attorney’s Phone, Sources Say
On November 7, Chinese hackers administered a telecom hack on Donald Trump’s lead attorney’s phone, Todd Blanche, with the FBI’s finding Blanch’s hack as part of an expansive campaign targeting high-profile officials.
The discovery of the telecom hacking by the FBI that Chinese operatives are hacking into Todd Blanche’s phone points to a growing cyber risk for US political leaders. While there was no direct Trump-related data on the device of Blanche, the hack was part of a larger, coordinated campaign that has targeted top officials.
Vice President-elect JD Vance, Trump attorney Lindsey Halligan, and even Biden administration members have been victims of similar attacks by state-linked Chinese telecom hack and Iran.
Rampant Telecom Hack of US Political Figures
Blanche is not the only Trump associate to be affected by a telecom hack. Another Trump attorney, Lindsey Halligan, was reportedly targeted in a separate hacking attempt linked to Iranian sources earlier this year.
Outside of Trump’s legal inner circle, hackers have reportedly targeted other high-profile figures, including Trump’s Vice President Sen. JD Vance, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, and several members of the Biden administration.
The hacks which the government attributes to breaches in major US telecom providers, including AT&T, Lumen, and Verizon – are described by national security officials as one of the gravest cyber threats in recent memory. Officials revealed that the AT&T hack and other telecom breaches allowed foreign operatives to infiltrate the devices of high-profile political figures.
Officials stated that the attack’s scope is “way worse than the public knows,” with investigators still working to assess the potential impacts. The FBI informed Todd Blanche, Donald Trump’s lead attorney, of the hack on his cellphone on November 7, heightening concerns about foreign cyber operations targeting US leaders.
Ongoing Investigation into the Breach
The telecom hack has forced the targeted agencies of the US government to take new precautions. Among them is a new policy at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau forcing employees to use only more secure communication platforms, like Microsoft Teams and Cisco WebEx, for work that requires access to non-public information, a CFPB spokesperson said.
Chinese government officials have denied involvement in the recent Chinese US telecom hack operation, despite investigations into the extent of the breaches on Trump’s entourage. The ongoing FBI investigations revealed that sensitive information, such as calls and phone records of high-ranking officials, were compromised by the group, according to WSJ.
According to the FBI investigations, it may take a few months to deeply study the impact of this hacking and for what intention it has been carried out.
The telecom hacked phone incident on US telcos, attributed to Chinese-linked hackers, is a reminder of some of the risks that public figures take in today’s nearly digital political landscape, placing an increased call for cybersecurity in all government channels.
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