Iran was behind the recent attempts to hack into the Trump campaign, as well as the Biden and Harris campaigns, the FBI and other intelligence agencies said on Monday.
The recent hack of Trump associates, including consultant and longtime GOP operative Roger Stone, were part of the Islamic Republic’s attempts to “stoke discord and undermine confidence in our democratic institutions,” the FBI, Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security agency said in a joint statement released on Monday.
The intelligence agencies accused Iran of “exploiting societal tensions through various means” over the course of the election season, including the hacking attempts. “Iran and Russia have employed these tactics not only in the United States during this and prior federal election cycles but also in other countries around the world,” the agencies said.
ADVERTISEMENT
“The IC [intelligence community] is confident that the Iranians have through social engineering and other efforts sought access to individuals with direct access to the presidential campaigns of both political parties,” the intelligence agencies said. “Such activity, including thefts and disclosures, are intended to influence the U.S. election process.”
Social engineering, a common tactic used by hackers to access corporate or government networks, refers to methods such as impersonating employees or phishing for personal information from unsuspecting victims to gain access to protected accounts, according to the FBI.
A Microsoft blog first reported the company was investigating the attempted hacking of a “high-ranking official on a presidential campaign from the compromised email account of a former senior advisor” through spear phishing. Trump campaign officials later confirmed the FBI was investigating the hack of one of their campaign staffers.
Hackers began sending material from the intrusion to media outlets in July. Some of this material included a large dossier on vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance’s “vulnerabilities.”
Hackers were able to access Stone’s email addresses through spear-phishing attempts, sources told the Washington Post. Federal investigators began looking into the hacking attempts as early as June, the newspaper reported citing sources with knowledge of the probe.
Last week, sources with knowledge of the investigation told the Post that Trump campaign manager Susie Wiles was also targeted in the hacking attempts.
Both the Trump campaign and the Harris campaign did not immediately return a request for comment from the Daily Beast.
