WashingtonIn a major indictment, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and other federal agencies said Iranian hackers sent people associated with President Joe Biden’s campaign unsolicited information stolen from the campaign of his rival, former President Donald Trump, marking the latest effort to expose Iran’s apparent and brazen efforts to interfere in the upcoming November election.
Before Biden dropped out of the race and named Vice President Kamala Harris in his place, Iranian hackers sent emails in late June and early July to individuals associated with the president’s campaign. The FBI, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) released a joint statement condemning Iran’s multipronged approach “to stoke discord and undermine trust” in the U.S. electoral process.
“In late June and early July, Iranian cybercriminals sent unsolicited emails to individuals then associated with President Biden’s campaign, which contained an excerpt taken from non-public materials stolen from former President Trump’s campaign as text in the emails. There is currently no information to indicate that those recipients responded. Additionally, Iranian cybercriminals have continued their efforts since June to send stolen non-public materials associated with former President Trump’s campaign to U.S. media organizations,” the statement read.
Iran’s permanent mission to the United Nations in New York did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday. In August, the United States accused Iran of launching cyber operations against the campaigns of both U.S. presidential candidates and targeting the American public with influence operations aimed at stoking political discord. In a statement, the Trump campaign said Harris and Biden should disclose whether they used the hacked material “to harm” President Trump.
Who received the leaked Trump campaign material?
On August 10, the Trump campaign revealed that it had been the victim of a cyberattack and that Iranian agents had stolen and distributed confidential internal documents. At least three media outlets (Politico, The New York Times, and The Washington Post) received confidential material leaked from within the Trump campaign. All of them have so far refused to disclose details about what they received.
The FBI said it will investigate and gather information to pursue and dismantle the threat actors responsible. “Foreign actors are increasing their election influence activities as we approach November. In particular, Russia, Iran, and China are all seeking in some way to exacerbate divisions in American society for their own benefit and view election periods as times of vulnerability. Efforts by these or other foreign actors to undermine our democratic institutions are a direct threat to the United States and will not be tolerated,” it added.
Politico reported that he began receiving emails on July 22 from an anonymous account. The source — an AOL email account identified only as “Robert” — passed him what appeared to be a research dossier that the campaign had apparently conducted on the Republican vice presidential nominee, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance. The document was dated Feb. 23, nearly five months before Trump chose Vance as his running mate.
In a statement, Morgan Finkelstein, a spokesperson for the Kamala Harris campaign, said the campaign has been cooperating with law enforcement since it learned that people associated with the Biden team were among the recipients of the emails. “We are not aware of any materials being sent directly to the campaign; some individuals were targeted in their personal emails with what appeared to be a spam or phishing attempt,” Finkelstein said.
(with contributions from agencies)
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