• Source:JND
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Chinese government-linked hackers have targeted the communication devices of former President Donald Trump and vice presidential nominee JD Vance. The hackers targeted high-profile US election candidates as a part of a broader cyber-espionage effort, reported CNN, citing familiar sources to the matter. 

The hacking attempt was reportedly attempted by a Chinese cyber espionage group known as 'Salt Typhoon'. The investigators are working to determine if the hacking group was able to get any critical data from the devices. The real-time data might be very critical to the people who were targeted. 'Salt Typhoon' also targeted Democratic contenders, including Vice President Kamala Harris and Vice President nominee Tim Walz, reported CNN, citing other sources. 

The FBI and the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) said that the US government is investigating the case. “The U.S. government is investigating the unauthorized access to commercial telecommunications infrastructure by actors affiliated with the People’s Republic of China,” the FBI and the CISA were quoted as saying by CNN. 

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The agencies further said that they understand the importance of data associated with such high-class candidates and are working to further strengthen the cybersecurity. 
“We are collaborating to aggressively mitigate this threat and are coordinating with our industry partners to strengthen cyberdefenses across the commercial communications sector,” they were quoted as saying by the news channel. 

What Is Salt Typhoon?
The American tech firm Microsoft has named a Chinese group Salt Typhoon, accused of using sophisticated techniques to hack into major systems. Recently, several reports suggested that the group had tried to hack the devices of former President Donald Trump and vice presidential nominee JD Vance. The nomenclature of the group is based on the pattern that Microsoft follows. The firm uses “typhoon” for hackers based in China, “sandstorm” for efforts by Iran and “blizzard” for operations mounted by Russia. "Salt" is used to demonstrate the type of hacking. Reports suggest that the group does not function like the other group of hackers. Salt Typhoon seems to be focused primarily on counterintelligence targets. 

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Earlier this week, US officials informed the Trump campaign that Trump and Vance were the potential targets by the Chinese hackers, one of the sources told CNN. Later, Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung accused the Democrats of allegedly emboldening China. 

Earlier, US intelligence agencies said that China has targeted at least 10 congressional, state, or local election races with social media campaigns. The Chinese government has denied all the allegations from the US agencies. Several reports have previously alleged that countries likeIran and China were trying to influence the US elections.

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