Chinese hackers impersonating AI experts targeted US policy specialists by posing as prominent figures, including a former White House official, according to a report by cybersecurity firm Proofpoint.
The China-aligned group, known as TA419, sent deceptive emails to policy experts in July, inviting them to take part in an AI Policy Advisory Committee. The messages appeared harmless at first, but recipients who responded were directed to fraudulent login pages intended to steal their credentials.
Those targeted included specialists working for think tanks, defence contractors, universities and law firms in the US and Japan. Proofpoint said the group had been conducting the operation since April 2025.
Among the people impersonated was Lynne Edwards Parker, a former principal deputy director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
The hackers used a technique in which a fake browser pop-up was placed inside a legitimate webpage. The imitation sign-in window was designed to look authentic and make it more difficult for victims to realise that they were disclosing information to attackers.
Proofpoint did not identify the people it believed had been targeted. Alex Engler, a former White House official who now leads the Penn Center on Media, Technology, and Democracy, confirmed that he had received one of the emails.
Engler said he checked the message with colleagues in the industry and discovered that it had been sent by someone impersonating another person.
TA419 was also linked to an attempt in February to impersonate a “prominent” Anthropic employee while targeting experts in AI policy.
Proofpoint believes the group is likely to continue pursuing think tanks and other policy specialists, using the identities of real-world experts to make its approaches appear credible. Parker did not respond to a request for comment.
