2024-08-23 17:47:38
U.S. intelligence officials said Monday they were confident Iran was responsible for hacking attacks targeting U.S. President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and presidential candidate Donald Trump.
AP reports this, citing statements from the FBI and other federal agencies.
The publication notes that although Trump campaign officials and private cybersecurity experts have previously said that Iran was behind the hacking attempts, this is the first time the US government has placed responsibility for the attack on it.
A joint statement from the FBI and other federal agencies also blamed Iran for efforts to hack Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign, saying the hackers “sought access to individuals directly involved in the presidential campaigns of both political parties.”
The hacking and other activities, federal officials say, were intended not only to sow discord but also to shape the outcome of an election that Iran considers “particularly important in terms of the impact it could have on its national security interests.”
The FBI said it had long observed aggressive Iranian activity during the election cycle.
“In particular, operations to influence the American public and cyber operations aimed at election campaigns,” the FBI and other federal agencies said in a joint statement.
Recall that on August 11, Trump was informed that computers in his campaign headquarters had been hacked. It was then that it was first noted that Iranian figures were involved in the theft and distribution of confidential internal documents.
The team did not provide any concrete evidence, but the statement came a day after a Microsoft report detailed efforts by foreign agents to interfere in the 2024 U.S. election campaign.
In particular, it cites an example of how in June, an Iranian military intelligence unit sent a phishing email to a senior presidential campaign official from a hacked email address of a former senior adviser.
Earlier, Cursor reported that a large-scale cyberattack had taken down Iran’s entire banking system.