Washington DC - Hackers associated with the Chinese government recently attempted to access the phone data of presidential candidate Donald Trump, his running mate JD Vance, and several other politicians and campaigns.

According to The New York Times, the Trump campaign was recently made aware of the breach, which is believed to have been carried out by a group called Salt Typhoon.

The group also infiltrated data from staff affiliated with Democratic candidate Kamala Harris' campaign, officials under President Joe Biden's administration, other politicians such as Senator Chuck Schumer, and major internet providers including AT&T and Verizon.

In a statement on Friday, the FBI and the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) said the actors involved are "affiliated with the People's Republic of China," and both are "collaborating to aggressively mitigate this threat."

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The breach is believed to be a part of a broader cyber-espionage effort by foreign entities to influence the 2024 election by gaining unauthorized access to sensitive national security data.

Back in August, the Trump campaign was the target of a breach by Iranian hackers, and some of the contents were shared with the media.

Three individuals were arrested in connect to the hacks, which were said to be part of a "years-long, wide-ranging hacking operation on behalf of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps."