Iranian hackers in late June and early July sent unsolicited emails To people associated with President Biden’s camp. According to a joint statement released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the emails contained excerpts of non-public materials stolen from former President Trump’s campaign. The feds clarified that there was no evidence that these recipients responded to the sender. In addition, they sent stolen material to news outlets, including bad actors The Washington Post and Politics.
The Post reported in August that the FBI was investigating an attempt by Iranian hackers infiltrate both Trump and Biden (now Kamala Harris) campaigns using spear-phishing techniques. The feds found no evidence that anyone from the Democratic Party fell for their scheme. But bad actors reportedly managed to gain access to an email account belonging to longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone and then used it to send more emails with spear-phishing links to his contact list.
“As the lead for threat response, the FBI is monitoring this activity, contacting victims, and will continue to investigate and gather information to pursue and disrupt the perpetrators,” officials said. .
The stolen materials were sent from an AOL account via e-mails signed under the name “Robert.” The Post. When asked by the publication, they denied that they were in contact with Iranian cyber attackers. Although the feds did not disclose what materials were sent, The Post they say they include the Trump campaign’s investigations into Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance, as well as internal polling.
Trump’s camp is now calling on the Harris camp to disclose what materials it received, while also asking news outlets not to publish the stolen information. Morgan Finkelstein, a Harris spokeswoman, said the Democratic campaign is cooperating with authorities because some of their people have also targeted their personal emails, but they are “not aware that any material was sent directly to them.”
Microsoft previously found evidence that a group linked to the Iranian government created a website that attacked and insulted former President Trump. But Iran is not the only country trying to interfere in this year’s presidential election in the United States. Microsoft recently reported that Russian troll farms are linked to the Kremlin conducts disinformation campaigns He focused on discrediting Harris and his assistant, Tim Walz. These Russian troll farms have been releasing videos smearing Democratic candidates, including using a fake actor to accuse Harris of involvement in a 2011 hit-and-run that left a 13-year-old girl paralyzed.
