Chinese hackers attempted to breach Trump and Harris campaigns' cellphone data

The U.S. government is investigating unauthorized access to commercial telecommunications infrastructure by Chinese hackers, targets of which include the Trump and Harris campaigns. 

The campaigns have been informed of the potential breach of cellphones used by former President Trump and his running mate, JD Vance, and members of Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal reported Friday, citing sources familiar with the matter.

"After the FBI identified specific malicious activity targeting the sector, the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) immediately notified affected companies, rendered technical assistance, and rapidly shared information to assist other potential victims," the FBI and CISA told Fox News Digital in a joint statement. 

The FBI and CISA said the investigation was ongoing and "we encourage any organization that believes it might be a victim to engage its local FBI field office or CISA. Agencies across the U.S. Government are collaborating to aggressively mitigate this threat and are coordinating with our industry partners to strengthen cyber defenses across the commercial communications sector."

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The hackers are believed to be connected to the Chinese government's intelligence services, The Journal reported. 

"We are aware that a highly sophisticated nation-state actor has reportedly targeted several U.S. telecommunications providers to gather intelligence," telecommunications company Verizon said in a statement. "Along with federal law enforcement, industry peers and third-party cyber experts, we are working to confirm, assess and remediate any potential impact. Verizon is committed to assisting law enforcement in this investigation.  Since this is an active investigation, we have no additional comment at this time."