Hackers linked to China posed as former US officials to target AI policy experts
Fake invitations to advise on AI and export controls led researchers to a counterfeit login page. One lure used the name of an Anthropic employee.
A hacking group aligned with China impersonated a former senior White House technology official, a former State Department chief economist and an Anthropic employee to try to break into the cloud accounts of AI policy experts, according to findings from the security company Proofpoint, reported by Nextgov/FCW.
The targets were researchers at think tanks, universities and law firms. From 8 July the attackers posed as Lynne Parker, a former principal deputy director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and then as Heidi Crebo-Rediker, the State Department's first chief economist. They invited experts to join a fictitious "AI Policy Advisory Committee" or contribute to a supposed Senate Foreign Relations Committee report on AI export controls.
Once a target replied, a follow-up message pointed to a fake OneDrive page built to steal Microsoft login details.
A pattern, not a one-off
Proofpoint tied the activity to a group it tracks as TA419. In February the same group impersonated a senior Anthropic employee in an email to an AI policy analyst, under the subject line "Request for Feedback on Military Integration of Claude". The report does not say how many people were targeted or whether any accounts were compromised.
The group has "consistently shown an interest in defense, national security, energy, international relations, and foreign policy targets", Proofpoint said, and the AI campaign is "an extension of that remit rather than a departure from it".
Parker learned of the impersonation on 9 July, when two recipients asked her whether she had sent the messages. "Without knowing who the bad actors are targeting, it's difficult to reach everyone who might be at risk," she said.
For governments, the target list matters. The people advising on AI rules and export controls work outside government, in organisations with weaker defences, and their inboxes can reveal what policy will look like before it is published.
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