{"id":113998,"date":"2026-10-01T17:01:23","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T17:01:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/chinese-hackers-impersonated-ex-us-official-to-steal-emails-from-ai-experts-the-express-tribune\/"},"modified":"2026-10-01T17:01:23","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T17:01:23","slug":"chinese-hackers-impersonated-ex-us-official-to-steal-emails-from-ai-experts-the-express-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/chinese-hackers-impersonated-ex-us-official-to-steal-emails-from-ai-experts-the-express-tribune\/","title":{"rendered":"Chinese hackers impersonated ex-US official to steal emails from AI experts | The Express Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"

Proofpoint says China-linked hackers have targeted US and Japanese think tanks, firms and universities since 2025<\/p>\n

The words “AI Safety”, a keyboard and a robotic hand in this illustration taken September 23, 2026. REUTERS <\/p>\n

\n

Chinese hackers have been \u200cimpersonating US AI experts, including a former government official, to try to steal emails from experts in AI at think tanks, universities, and other organizations, the cybersecurity company Proofpoint said on Thursday.<\/p>\n

In a report<\/a>, Proofpoint said that it had watched the hackers \u2014 which it dubs “TA419” \u2014 \u200bregularly try to steal passwords from people working for US or Japanese think tanks, defense contractors, universities, and \u200blaw firms since as far back as 2025.<\/p>\n

Proofpoint attributed the hacking efforts to the Chinese \u2060group based on the types of malware the group used, the internet infrastructure used to carry out the attacks, \u200band the targets it observed the group focusing on, which align with Chinese intelligence collection priorities.<\/p>\n

Proofpoint said the hackers’ \u200brecent campaign involved writing emails purporting to come from experts in AI or statecraft, including Lynne Parker, who previously worked as the principal deputy director of the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy. Proofpoint said the emails would typically propose AI-themed collaborations or \u200binitiatives before steering targets toward password-stealing websites.<\/p>\n

The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately return a message seeking comment. \u200bBeijing has long denied carrying out cyberespionage operations.<\/p>\n

Proofpoint declined to name the hackers’ targets, saying only that the latter included “experts working on \u200cAI regulation, \u2060export controls and national AI strategy.”<\/p>\n

Reuters<\/em> was independently able to identify one of them: Alex Engler, a former White House official who now heads the Penn Center on Media, Technology, and Democracy.<\/p>\n

Read More:<\/strong> Pentagon creates ‘Autowarcom’ to expand AI and drone capabilities<\/a><\/p>\n

Engler told Reuters <\/em>on Wednesday he had received an email appearing to come from Parker inviting him “to join a new AI policy project.” But he said the email “felt \u200bslightly, nebulously off” and, after \u200bhe checked with others \u2060in the field, he realized he was dealing with an impostor.<\/p>\n

Engler said he could not speculate about why someone would try to hack him, but Proofpoint said that its \u200bview of the targeting \u2014 which involved fewer than 10 individuals working for a handful \u200bof organisations \u2014 suggested “an \u2060intelligence interest in US policymaking rather than technology theft alone.”<\/p>\n

Parker told Reuters<\/em> that Engler was one of two people that she knew of who had received suspicious messages purporting to come from her in early July. She added that the allegation \u2060of Chinese \u200binvolvement made sense.<\/p>\n

“The United States and China are in a competition around \u200bAI,” Parker said. “Trying to get people in the AI policy space to reveal information about their AI policy plans \u2014 if that indeed was what \u200bthe objective was \u2014 it’s not surprising.”<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Proofpoint says China-linked hackers have targeted US and Japanese think tanks, firms and universities since 2025 The words “AI Safety”, a keyboard and a robotic hand in this illustration taken September 23, 2026. REUTERS Chinese hackers have been \u200cimpersonating US AI experts, including a former government official, to try to steal emails from experts in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":113999,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.tribune.com.pk\/media\/images\/ai-safety1790692315-0\/ai-safety1790692315-0-640x480.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-113998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t