The US government is investigating suspected efforts by Chinese hackers to access data from phones used by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and his running mate JD Vance, as well as the campaign of their challenger, Vice President Kamala Harris, US media reported on Friday.

The reports, citing people familiar with the matter, came around the same time that the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) said they were investigating “unauthorized access to commercial telecommunications infrastructure by actors affiliated with the People’s Republic of China.” .

“After the FBI identified specific malicious activity targeting the sector, the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) immediately notified affected companies, provided technical assistance and quickly shared information to help other potential victims” , federal agencies said in a statement. joint statement.

“The investigation is ongoing and we encourage any organization that believes they may be a victim to contact their local FBI or CISA office,” they added.

The Trump campaign was told this week that Trump and Vance were among a number of people inside and outside the government whose phone numbers were targeted by the infiltration of Verizon’s phone systems, it added.