Washington DC:

Former US President Donald Trump’s son Eric Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner are being targeted by hackers linked to the Chinese government as part of a large-scale “cyber espionage campaign” affecting senior leaders of the Republican and Democratic parties. , as US officials suspect, CNN reported.

This report comes just days before the US election scheduled for November 5th.

CNN reported, citing sources, that the hackers are targeting the calls and text data of Eric Trump and Jared Kushner, and dozens of people may be affected by the hacks.

Other targets include former President Donald Trump, his running mate JD Vance and people associated with the Harris-Walz campaign.

In addition, prominent Democrats, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s staff, were also targeted.

The scale of the hack has been described as “much worse than the public knows,” and officials are still investigating its full impact, according to CNN, citing sources familiar with the information.

In some cases, hackers may have accessed their targets’ calls and text data for months. The FBI is actively notifying those affected, the report added.

Notably, the New York Times was the first to report that Eric Trump and Kushner were specifically targeted.

US officials investigating the hacking campaign, which involved break-ins at US telecoms firms AT&T, Lumen and Verizon, say it is one of the most troubling national security hacks in recent memory – more serious than initial reports suggested, after as CNN reported.

US officials consider this hacking campaign – stemming from breaches at telecommunications firms AT&T, Lumen and Verizon – to be one of the most troubling national security hacks in recent history, more serious than previous reports suggested.

The timing of these revelations coincides with a critical FBI investigation into the hacking that affected both the Trump and Harris campaigns, which took place just before important elections.

While the hackers do not appear to be trying to influence the election, as some Iranian hackers did earlier this year, they are trying to gather information about the private communications of key officials from both sides, which would be of particular interest to Beijing.

Investigators also believe the hackers may be looking for other sensitive national security information, including details of wiretapping warrant requests made by the Justice Department, according to CNN.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)