Security firm Proofpoint reports that a China-linked group it tracks as TA419 has been impersonating the former principal deputy director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, Lynne Edwards Parker, and other AI experts in spearphishing aimed at people working on AI policy at think tanks, universities, defence contractors and law firms. The campaign, observed since 2025, uses benign conversation-starter emails themed around joining a fake "AI Policy Advisory Committee" or a fictitious Senate report on AI export controls to build rapport, then pivots to credential-harvesting links leading to a OneDrive phishing page. Proofpoint attributes the activity to the Chinese group on the basis of malware, internet infrastructure and target profiles aligned with Chinese intelligence-collection priorities. Reuters, whose reporting iTnews carried on 1 October, independently identified one target: Alex Engler, a former White House official who now heads the Penn Center on Media, Technology, and Democracy. The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment.

• Source article