In late June and early July, Iranian hackers sent unsolicited emails to people associated with President Biden's team. Those emails contained excerpts of non-publicly available materials that had been stolen from former President Trump's campaign, according to a joint statement issued by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the FBI, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. The feds clarified that there is no evidence those recipients responded to the sender. Additionally, the bad actors sent stolen materials to news publications, including The Washington Post and Political.
The Post In August, a group of Iranian hackers reported that the FBI was investigating an attempt to infiltrate the Trump and Biden (now Kamala Harris) campaigns using phishing techniques. The feds found no evidence that anyone in the Democratic Party fell for the trick. But the bad guys were reportedly able to gain control of an email account owned by Roger Stone, a longtime Trump adviser, which they then used to send more emails containing phishing links to his contact list.
“As a leader in threat response, the FBI has been tracking this activity, has been in contact with victims, and will continue to investigate and gather information to pursue and dismantle the threat actors responsible,” officials said in their announcement.
The stolen materials were sent from an AOL account via emails signed with the name “Robert,” according to The Post. When questioned by the publication, they denied any involvement with the Iranian cyberattackers. While the feds did not say what materials were sent, The Post says they include the Trump campaign's investigation into Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance, as well as internal polling results.
Trump's team is now calling on Harris's team to disclose what materials it received, while asking media outlets not to publish the stolen information. Harris spokesperson Morgan Finkelstein said the Democratic campaign is cooperating with authorities as some of its members were also targeted for attacks on their personal emails, but that they are “not aware of any materials being sent to them” directly.
Microsoft previously found evidence that a group linked to the Iranian government had created a website that launched attacks and insults against former President Trump. But Iran is not the only country trying to interfere in this year’s US presidential election. Microsoft recently reported that Kremlin-affiliated Russian troll farms are running disinformation campaigns focused on discrediting Harris and her running mate, Tim Walz. These Russian troll farms have been posting fake videos that portray Democratic candidates in a bad light, including one in which a fake actor was used to accuse Harris of being involved in a 2011 hit-and-run incident that left a 13-year-old girl paralyzed.
