U.S. intelligence agencies have confirmed that Iran was involved in the recent cyber attack on former President Donald Trump's election campaign. On Monday, August 19, the FBI and other federal agencies released a joint statement confirming this information. The statement noted that Iran attempted to interfere in the U.S. electoral process with the aim of sowing division and undermining trust in democratic institutions. This news was reported by British media outlet BBC.
On August 10, Trump's campaign had pointed the finger at Iran, claiming that their internal communications had been hacked. However, Iranian officials have denied these allegations. According to sources linked with BBC’s American partner, CBS News, it is suspected that Iranian hackers also targeted the campaign of Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris. The U.S. intelligence officials stated that the intelligence community is confident that Iranians attempted to reach directly out to individuals involved in both political parties' presidential campaigns through social engineering and other efforts.
The statement further revealed that such activities, including data theft and exposure, were aimed at influencing the U.S. electoral process.
It was reported that a spear-phishing email was sent to Trump’s campaign, intended to trick the target into clicking on a harmful link. The Harris campaign also fell victim to a similar attack, but it reportedly failed.
The statement from the FBI, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency noted that these tactics are not new. Russia and Iran have previously used similar methods in past U.S. elections.
It remains unclear whether any information was stolen during the hack. Trump has stated that the hackers only obtained information available in the public domain. However, the New York Times, Politico, and the Washington Post reported that some confidential information from Trump’s campaign was leaked, including details related to his running mate, JD Vance’s vetting process. Media outlets have so far refrained from providing further details on these matters.
U.S. officials indicated that Iran is interested in influencing an election result considered especially significant for its national security interests. The U.S. intelligence agencies also noted an increase in Iran's aggressive activities during this election cycle.
Concerns are growing about the rising threat from Iranian hackers. Recently, Microsoft reported that it had observed the emergence of 'significant influential activity' from groups associated with Iran. Google also reported that both President Joe Biden’s campaign and Trump’s campaign had been targeted by Iranian hackers.
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