FBI investigating computer attacks on Trump and Harris campaigns, targeting Iran

WASHINGTON (FR 24) – The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) confirmed on Monday, August 12, that it is investigating a series of computer attacks against Kamala Harris and Donald Trump’s campaigns.

The entity said in this regard at the beginning of this week: “We can confirm that the FBI is investigating this matter.” This statement sounded the alarm for both the Democratic and Republican parties who are preparing for the final stage of the presidential election in the United States.

Three anonymous sources from the Democratic campaign (from the time when Joe Biden was still the party’s candidate) assured that they received emails designed to appear “legitimate” that, once opened, would have allowed access to their respective communication networks.

However, these sources confirmed that there is still no evidence that these attempts were successful.

The Washington Post said the FBI began investigating in June, suspecting Iran was behind the alleged theft of data from two election campaigns. The hack, in turn, took place after Biden announced in July that he was dropping out of the White House race and Harris was replacing him.

On the Republican side, the Trump campaign claimed on Saturday that they were the victims of a computer attack and that confidential internal documents had been stolen and distributed.

Also Saturday, Politico claimed to have received internal documents from the Republican tycoon’s campaign leaked via email from an individual named “Robert”; the news organization reported that the materials included research documents about the vice presidential campaigns of Trump, J.D. Vance and Marco Rubio, who has also been considered a possible vice presidential candidate.

Newspapers such as The New York Times and The Washington Post said they had also received the leaked material but gave no further details.

It is unclear whether the information received by these media is related to the alleged hacking of the Trump campaign. In response, former presidential campaign spokesman Zhang Zhiwei pointed out that the documents are related and were obtained “illegally”, while warning that “any media adulteration of documents or internal communications is following the orders of the government’s enemies of the United States and acting entirely in accordance with their wishes.”

What did the Harris campaign say?

Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign assured on Tuesday that the FBI notified it last month that the company was a “target of an influence operation by a foreign actor.”

“We have robust cybersecurity measures in place and are not aware of any security breaches in our systems as a result of these efforts,” a campaign official said, adding that they remain in contact with authorities about the matter.

Trump campaign blames Iran

According to Donald Trump’s campaign, Iran is behind the alleged cyberattack. While the Republican organization did not provide specific evidence that Tehran was behind the hack, it pointed to a Microsoft report detailing Iran’s attempts to infiltrate the president’s campaign in June.

The report states that Iranian military intelligence “sent a ‘phishing’ email to a senior official in the presidential campaign through a compromised email account of a former senior adviser.”

Microsoft did not disclose which campaign or consultant was the target of the cyberattack, but it did say it had notified the appropriate individuals.

As a result, Trump and his adviser and old friend Roger Stone said the tech company contacted them about an alleged cyber intrusion. The former president claimed on his social network Truth Social that Microsoft informed his campaign that one of its “many websites was hacked by the Iranian government.”

“Phishing” is a form of cyber attack in which an attacker impersonates a known or trusted sender in order to install malware and obtain confidential information from the victim.

The Clinton case: This is nothing new

In 2016, Russian hackers allegedly leaked emails sent and received by John Podesta, Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager. The WikiLeaks website released a large amount of information and was picked up by various media outlets.

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer stressed that such cyber tactics are the norm in the U.S. context, proving that foreign adversaries are “determined to sow chaos and undermine our democratic process.”

“That’s why we must remain resolute to ensure our cybersecurity is secure against intrusions like this as we head into November,” Schumer said.

In this regard, experts point out that this recent cyber attack is unlikely to be the last attempt to interfere in the US electoral landscape.

For example, both Iran and Russia have begun targeting Americans with fake news sites and social media content that are allegedly designed to influence voters in that country, according to U.S. officials and Microsoft members.