In a brazen attempt to influence the US presidential election, Iranian hackers launched a phishing campaign in late June and early July, targeting individuals associated with President Biden’s team. The hackers sent unsolicited emails containing sensitive, stolen materials from former President Trump’s campaign, according to a joint statement from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the FBI, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. Although the recipients did not respond to the emails, the hackers also sent the stolen materials to several news outlets, including The Washington Post and Politico.
The Washington Post reported in August that the FBI was investigating an Iranian hacking group’s attempts to infiltrate both the Trump and Biden campaigns using sophisticated spear-phishing techniques. While the hackers failed to breach the Democratic Party’s defenses, they did manage to compromise an email account belonging to Roger Stone, a longtime Trump adviser. The hackers then used the account to send phishing emails to Stone’s contact list.
The FBI has been tracking the hacking activity and is working to disrupt the threat actors responsible. “We are committed to investigating and gathering information to pursue those behind this malicious activity,” the authorities stated.
The stolen materials were sent from an AOL account under the pseudonym “Robert.” When questioned by The Post, the individual behind the account denied any connection to Iranian cyber attackers. The contents of the stolen materials remain unclear, but The Post reports that they include the Trump campaign’s research on Republican vice-presidential nominee JD Vance and internal poll results.
The Trump campaign is now calling on the Harris campaign to disclose any materials they may have received, while urging news outlets not to publish the stolen information. A spokesperson for the Harris campaign, Morgan Finkelstein, stated that they are cooperating with authorities, as some of their staff members were also targeted through personal emails. However, they claim to be unaware of any materials being sent directly to them.
Microsoft has previously uncovered evidence of an Iranian government-linked group creating a website that attacks and insults former President Trump. However, Iran is not the only country attempting to interfere in the US presidential election. Microsoft has also reported that Russian troll farms affiliated with the Kremlin are running disinformation campaigns aimed at discrediting Harris and her running mate Tim Walz. These troll farms have released fake videos portraying the Democratic nominees in a negative light, including one that falsely accuses Harris of being involved in a 2011 hit-and-run incident.
