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Breaking: Foreign Government Hacked Trump and Vance's Phones in Massive Cyber Attack - Report

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Investigators believe Chinese hackers gained access to the information stored on the phones of former President Donald Trump and Sen. J.D. Vance.

These hackers reportedly gained access to various American telecommunications systems, including — in this specific case — Verizon phone systems, which helped them acquire the data of specific, individual cell phone devices.

The Trump campaign was alerted of the cyber attacks earlier this week.

News of the attacks broke Friday, thanks to an anonymously-sourced report from The New York Times.

Sources told the Times that investigators have yet to determine what data exactly was stolen or accessed.

But, given the sensitive nature of the communications that likely took place on the personal devices of the two Republican nominees, the data potentially acquired by China could be extremely valuable for foreign intelligence purposes.

According to the report, the hackers may now know “who [Trump and Vance] called and texted, how often they communicated with certain people, and how long they talked to those people …”

Trump and Vance were far from the only victims of the cyber attack, however.

Sources told the Times that they were among many different figures both “inside and outside [the] government” whose phones were targeted.

Do you think China wants Trump to lose in November?

This news comes only a few months after Chinese hackers were found to have broken into a number of U.S. internet service providers.

An exclusive September report from The Wall Street Journal found that a Chinese “hacking campaign” called Salt Typhoon, was responsible for the earlier cyber attacks.

The report revealed that the Salt Typhoon was evidence that China had successfully launched an effective “army of cyberspies” to infiltrate secure networks and systems in the U.S. and around the world.

Prior to the more recent reported data breach, the Trump campaign was targeted by Iranian hackers.

The Iranians reportedly “repeatedly targeted his inner circle with spearphishing emails that were at least partly successful in gaining access to his campaign’s communications and documents.”

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Since then, the Trump campaign ramped up its security efforts.

The Trump campaign has yet to put out an official statement on the cyber attack.

However, one campaign representative told the Times that the White House and Vice President Kamala Harris hold some culpability for “allowing a foreign adversary to target” Trump and Vance.

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Michael wrote for several entertainment news outlets before joining The Western Journal in 2020. He now serves as Managing Editor, which involves managing the editorial team and operations; helping guide the editorial direction of The Western Journal; and writing, editing, curating and assigning stories as needed.
Michael Austin graduated from Iowa State University in 2019. During his time in college, he volunteered for both PragerU and Live Action. After graduation, Michael went on to work as a freelance journalist for various entertainment news sites before joining The Western Journal as an intern in early 2020.

Shortly thereafter, Michael was hired on as a staff writer/reporter. He now serves as Managing Editor, which involves managing the editorial team and operations; helping guide the editorial direction of The Western Journal; and writing, editing, curating and assigning stories as needed.
Birthplace
Ames, Iowa
Nationality
American
Education
Iowa State University
Topics of Expertise
Cultural Politics, Entertainment News, Christian-Conservatism




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