BEIJING’S BIG CATCH— A massive Chinese hack of America's telecommunications backbone that targeted Trump, vice presidential candidate JD Vance (R-Ohio) and dozens of senior U.S. officials is about to get the federal microscope treatment. MC can confirm the
Cyber Safety Review Board will look into how Chinese hackers infiltrated major U.S. telecom giants and tried to spy on high-profile Americans' phones, according to two people familiar with the matter. The Wall Street Journal was first to report the investigation. — The scope:
Federal investigators believe roughly 40 people had their communications targeted by a Chinese hacking crew known as Salt Typhoon, POLITICO reported Friday. The group has wormed its way into at least 10 telecom providers, including AT&T, Lumen and Verizon. — How bad is it?:
Bad enough that the White House hit the panic button. Earlier this month, the administration activated a rare emergency response process — known as a unified coordination group — to try booting the hackers out. — Enter the CSRB: The DHS cyber review panel’s last investigation resulted
in a scathing report that forced Microsoft to overhaul its security practices. A spokesperson confirmed to POLITICO they'll "initiate a review of this incident at the appropriate time." — Plot twist: Here’s the thing — nobody in the know seems all that shocked.
“I have always assumed, as a member of the Intelligence Committee, that I’m an interesting target for not just the Chinese, but probably lots of other countries,” House Intelligence Committee ranking member Jim Himes (D-Conn.) told Maggie on Friday. “So I’m careful about what I say and do on my electronic devices.” — The need to know more:
Himes says his staff has been briefed on these latest intrusions, and he's itching to dig deeper once Congress gets back from election recess. "We have a big backlog of material," he told us, “that we’re high time due for a briefing on.” — Watch this space: The University of Toronto's Citizen Lab senior researcher John Scott Railton tells MC the Salt Typhoon attacks spotlights another one of America's achilles heels that only became more
apparent in recent weeks. “The U.S. has huge vulnerabilities in the telecommunication system that attackers have predictably targeted,” Scott Railton said. TRUMP GOES ON ROGAN — Want to know what Trump had to say about voting machine vulnerabilities while on “The Joe Rogan Experience”?
It starts right here. But if you want the TLDR: Elon Musk’s crusade to fully switch to “paper ballot voting” looks to have influenced Trump’s opinion greatly. “[Musk] said to me that, unless you have paper ballots, it can never be an honest election, that's a big statement. We should go to paper ballots,” Trump said.
— Something to remember: Paper ballots are already the norm for American voters and nearly every ballot cast in 2024 will be marked on paper.
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