Iranian hackers sent “unsolicited emails” stolen from the Trump campaign to Biden’s campaign, the FBI and other federal agencies said.
“Iranian malicious cyber actors in late June and early July sent unsolicited emails to individuals then associated with President Biden’s campaign that contained an excerpt taken from stolen, non-public material from former President Trump’s campaign as text in the emails. There is currently no information indicating those recipients replied. Furthermore, Iranian malicious cyber actors have continued their efforts since June to send stolen, non-public material associated with former President Trump’s campaign to U.S. media organizations,” a joint statement said.
BREAKING: Iranian hackers sent people associated with President Joe Biden’s campaign unsolicited information that had been stolen from Republican Donald Trump’s campaign, the FBI and other federal agencies said – AP
— Insider Paper (@TheInsiderPaper) September 18, 2024
With it’s track record, it’s hard to imagine many people will take election interference accusations from the FBI seriously.
“The FBI and other federal agencies announced that Iranian hackers provided people linked to Biden’s campaign with stolen data from Trump’s campaign. This is part of ongoing efforts by Iran to interfere in the 2024 election, including a hack-and-leak campaign aimed at Trump’s team,” Mario Nawfal noted.
🚨🇮🇷🇺🇸 IRANIAN HACKERS SENT STOLEN TRUMP CAMPAIGN INFO TO BIDEN ASSOCIATES, FBI SAYS
The FBI and other federal agencies announced that Iranian hackers provided people linked to Biden’s campaign with stolen data from Trump’s campaign.
This is part of ongoing efforts by Iran to… pic.twitter.com/l64cUryyZV
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) September 18, 2024
“This malicious cyber activity is the latest example of Iran’s multipronged approach, as noted in the joint August statement, to stoke discord and undermine confidence in our electoral process. As the lead for threat response, the FBI has been tracking this activity, has been in contact with the victims, and will continue to investigate and gather information in order to pursue and disrupt the threat actors responsible,” the statement continued.
“Foreign actors are increasing their election influence activities as we approach November. In particular, Russia, Iran, and China are trying by some measure to exacerbate divisions in U.S. society for their own benefit, and see election periods as moments of vulnerability. Efforts by these, or other foreign actors, to undermine our democratic institutions are a direct threat to the U.S. and will not be tolerated,” it added.
Wouldn’t a better question be how much election interference is committed by U.S. intelligence agencies?
From POLITICO:
Morgan Finkelstein, spokesperson for the campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris, which replaced the Biden campaign, said in a statement Wednesday that “we have cooperated with the appropriate law enforcement authorities since we were made aware” of the information being sent to Biden campaign personnel.
“We’re not aware of any material being sent directly to the campaign; a few individuals were targeted on their personal emails with what looked like a spam or phishing attempt,” Finkelstein said. “We condemn in the strongest terms any effort by foreign actors to interfere in U.S. elections including this unwelcome and unacceptable malicious activity.”
“WOW, JUST OUT! THE FBI CAUGHT IRAN SPYING ON MY CAMPAIGN, AND GIVING ALL OF THE INFORMATION TO THE KAMALA HARRIS CAMPAIGN. THEREFORE SHE AND HER CAMPAIGN WERE ILLEGALLY SPYING ON ME. TO BE KNOWN AS THE IRAN, IRAN, IRAN CASE! WILL KAMALA RESIGN IN DISGRACE FROM POLITICS? WILL THE COMMUNIST LEFT PICK A NEW CANDIDATE TO REPLACE HER?” Trump posted on Truth Social.
WOW, JUST OUT! THE FBI CAUGHT IRAN SPYING ON MY CAMPAIGN, AND GIVING ALL OF THE INFORMATION TO THE KAMALA HARRIS CAMPAIGN. THEREFORE SHE AND HER CAMPAIGN WERE ILLEGALLY SPYING ON ME. TO BE KNOWN AS THE IRAN, IRAN, IRAN CASE! WILL KAMALA RESIGN IN DISGRACE FROM POLITICS? WILL THE…
— Donald J. Trump Posts From His Truth Social (@TrumpDailyPosts) September 19, 2024
Per CBS News:
Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt told CBS News in a statement that “this is further proof the Iranians are actively interfering in the election to help Kamala Harris and Joe Biden because they know President Trump will restore his tough sanctions and stand against their reign of terror.”
A Microsoft threat intelligence report last month provided examples about the actions of Iranian groups seeking to influence the 2024 election.
“Not surprisingly, the latest revelations confirm that Iran’s efforts are multi-pronged and intended to damage the Trump campaign,” Chris Krebs, former Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency director, told CBS News Wednesday. “This comes on the same day as a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on foreign threats to elections. In that hearing Microsoft President Brad Smith characterized the state of foreign interference as Russia vs Harris and Iran vs Trump.”
The Trump campaign disclosed on Aug. 10 that it had been hacked and said Iranian actors had stolen and distributed sensitive internal documents. At least three news outlets — Politico, The New York Times and The Washington Post — were leaked confidential material from inside the Trump campaign. So far, each has refused to reveal any details about what it received.