U.S. intelligence officials have confirmed that Iran was behind the latest hack of President Donald Trump’s campaign.
The FBI and other federal agencies said in a joint statement that Iran chose to interfere in the U.S. election “in an effort to foment discord and undermine confidence in our democratic institutions.”
Earlier this month, the Trump campaign blamed internal hacking information on Iran. Iranian officials denied the claim.
The Republican campaign reportedly received a spear phishing email designed to appear credible in order to get targets to click on a malicious link.
“this [intelligence community] “We believe the Iranians have used social engineering and other efforts to gain access to individuals who could directly participate in bipartisan presidential campaigns,” U.S. intelligence officials said in a statement.
“Such activity, including theft and leaks, is intended to influence the U.S. electoral process.”
The statement appeared to confirm previous reports that Iran was also responsible for a hack of Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign.
The agencies that issued the statement, including the FBI, Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, said the tactics were “not new” and noted that Russia and Iran had used them in previous U.S. elections. class method.
It’s unclear what information, if any, was stolen during the hack. Trump said hackers can only obtain public information.
But officials say the goal is clear: Iran wants to shape the outcome of an election it considers “particularly important for the possible impact on its national security interests.”
The US agencies added that they have “observed increasingly aggressive Iranian activity during this election cycle”.
Concerns are growing about potential Iranian hackers.
Most recently, Microsoft said it had discovered “significant influence activity” from groups linked to Iran.
President Joe Biden’s campaign, like Trump’s, was targeted by Iranian hackers before he dropped out of the race for the White House last month, according to Google.
