Chinese hackers impersonated ex-White House AI official to steal experts' emails, Proofpoint says

Chinese hackers have been impersonating US AI experts, including a former government official, to try to steal emails from experts in AI at think tanks, universities and other organisations, the cybersecurity company Proofpoint said on Thursday, according to Reuters (https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/chinese-hackers-impersonated-ex-us-official-steal-emails-ai-experts-2026-10-01/).

In a report published on Thursday, Proofpoint said it had watched the hackers — which it dubs “TA419” — regularly try to steal passwords from people working for US or Japanese think tanks, defence contractors, universities and law firms since as far back as 2025. Proofpoint attributed the hacking efforts to the Chinese group based on the types of malware used, the internet infrastructure used to carry out the attacks, and the targets observed, which align with Chinese intelligence collection priorities.

The hackers’ recent campaign involved writing emails purporting to come from experts in AI or statecraft, including Lynne Parker, who previously served as the principal deputy director of the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy. The emails would typically propose AI-themed collaborations or initiatives before steering targets toward password-stealing websites. In one case reported by CNN, the hackers sent an email posing as Parker to an employee of a US law firm inviting them to participate in an “AI policy advisory committee”, followed by a malware-laced document (https://www.cnn.com/2026/10/01/politics/china-linked-hackers-impersonated-us-ai-insiders).

Reuters independently identified one of the targets: Alex Engler, a former White House official who now heads the Penn Center on Media, Technology, and Democracy. Engler told Reuters he had received an email appearing to come from Parker inviting him “to join a new AI policy project”, but said the email “felt slightly, nebulously off” and, after checking with others in the field, he realised he was dealing with an impostor.

Proofpoint declined to name the hackers’ targets, saying only that they included “experts working on AI regulation, export controls and national AI strategy”. Parker, now associate vice chancellor emerita at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, told CNN she felt “sadness that relationships I’ve built over my career were being exploited by bad actors to deceive others”.

The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately return a message seeking comment, Reuters reported. Beijing has long denied carrying out cyberespionage operations.

Sources

• Reuters, “Chinese hackers impersonated ex-US official to steal emails from AI experts”, 1 October 2026 — https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/chinese-hackers-impersonated-ex-us-official-steal-emails-ai-experts-2026-10-01/
• CNN, “China-linked hackers impersonated US AI insiders as global race heats up”, 1 October 2026 — https://www.cnn.com/2026/10/01/politics/china-linked-hackers-impersonated-us-ai-insiders