Cybersecurity firm Proofpoint said on the 1st that a Chinese hacker group had been impersonating US AI experts, including former government officials, in an attempt to steal emails from AI specialists at think tanks, universities, and other organizations. According to the report, the hacker group, which the company named "TA419," has since 2025 been regularly trying to steal passwords from people working at think tanks, defense-related companies, universities, and law firms in the United States and Japan. Because the types of malware the group used, the internet infrastructure employed in the attacks, and the targets it focused on match the characteristics of Chinese intelligence activity, Proofpoint concluded that the hacking campaign was carried out by a Chinese group. The emails posing as AI experts typically proposed AI-themed collaboration and then steered targets to password-stealing sites. Reuters independently confirmed one of the targets as Alex Engler, a former White House official who is now the director of the Penn Center on Media, Technology, and Democracy. Engler told Reuters on the 30th that he had received an email from someone claiming to be Lynne Parker, a senior official at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, inviting him to join "a new AI policy project," and that after checking with other people in the field, he realized he was dealing with an impersonator. Proofpoint noted that this targeted attack, which involved fewer than 10 individuals at a small number of organizations, suggests "not mere technology theft, but intelligence interest in US policymaking." The Chinese Embassy in the United States did not respond to a request for comment.
Proofpoint's report on the TA419 hacking campaign is the subject of the article, highlighting its cybersecurity research and threat-detection services.
