Chinese hackers impersonated AI experts to target US policy minds

TA419 hackers used deceptive tactics, impersonating real figures like a former White House AI official

The same hacking group impersonated an Anthropic employee in Feburary [File: Dado Ruvic/Reuters]

Chinese hackers have been impersonating artificial intelligence (AI) experts in the United States, including a former government official, according to a new report from cybersecurity firm Proofpoint.

The report, released on Thursday, found that in July, a China-aligned hacking group called TA419 targeted a slate of US policy experts by impersonating prominent figures, including Lynne Edwards Parker, the former principal deputy director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

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The hackers, who had been operating since April 2025, first sent otherwise harmless-looking emails intended to engage a target, such as requests to join an “AI Policy Advisory Committee”, and, once they responded, the target would be sent to a fake login page designed to steal their credentials.

The targets included policy experts at think tanks, defence contractors, universities and law firms in both the US and Japan.

The report used a technique that creates a fake browser pop-up window inside a legitimate webpage that mimics an authentic-looking sign-in prompt to deceive victims and make it harder for them to realise they are handing over their information to hackers.

Proofpoint did not specifically name the targets hacked, but the Reuters news agency was able to confirm at least one of them as Alex Engler, a former White House official who now heads the Penn Center on Media, Technology, and Democracy.

Engler told Reuters that he got one of the emails, but after checking with industry colleagues, he discovered that he had received the email from an impersonator.

In February, the same group was behind the impersonation of a “prominent” Anthropic employee in efforts to target AI policy experts. The cybersecurity firm behind the report believes that the group will continue to target think tanks and other policy experts and will continue to use the identity of real-world experts to do it.

Parker did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment.

TA419黑客使用了欺骗手段，冒充真实人物，例如一位前白宫人工智能官员。

同一个黑客组织在二月份冒充了一名 Anthropic 员工 [文件：Dado Ruvic/路透社]

网络安全公司 Proofpoint 的一份新报告显示，中国黑客一直在冒充美国的 AI 专家，其中包括一名前政府官员。

周四发布的这份报告发现，7 月份，一个名为 TA419 的与中国结盟的黑客组织冒充知名人士，攻击了一系列美国政策专家，其中包括白宫科技政策办公室前首席副主任琳恩·爱德华兹·帕克。

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这些黑客从 2025 年 4 月开始活动，他们首先发送看似无害的电子邮件来吸引目标，例如请求加入“人工智能政策咨询委员会”，一旦目标做出回应，就会被引导到一个虚假的登录页面，该页面旨在窃取他们的凭据。

目标人群包括美国和日本智库、国防承包商、大学和律师事务所的政策专家。

该报告采用了一种技术，即在合法网页内创建一个虚假的浏览器弹出窗口，模仿看似真实的登录提示，以欺骗受害者，并使他们更难意识到自己正在将信息拱手让给黑客。

Proofpoint 没有具体指明被黑客攻击的目标，但路透社证实，其中至少一人是 Alex Engler，他曾是白宫官员，现在是宾夕法尼亚大学媒体、技术和民主中心的负责人。

恩格勒告诉路透社，他收到了一封这样的电子邮件，但在与业内同事核实后，他发现这封电子邮件是冒充者发来的。

今年2月，同一组织曾冒充Anthropic公司的一位“知名”员工，试图攻击人工智能政策专家。撰写这份报告的网络安全公司认为，该组织将继续以智库和其他政策专家为目标，并继续冒用现实世界专家的身份进行攻击。

帕克没有回应半岛电视台的置评请求。