The US Department of Justice has charged three Iranian nationals as part of an attempt to hack emails and computers used by President Donald Trump's campaign staff and other political connections.
Washington Post reported that Justice Department officials filed charges against Masoud Jalili, Seyyed Ali Aghamiri and Yasar Balaghi in an indictment filed Thursday in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. The indictment alleges that the three men “prepared for and participated in a broad hacking campaign” against current and former U.S. officials, political campaigns and media outlets.
According to the indictment, the activity of Jalili, Aghamiri and Balaghi “is part of Iran's continued efforts to … erode confidence in the American electoral process.” They also face possible charges such as providing material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.
The suspects are accused of carrying out a targeted hacking campaign in Iran over a four-year period. His victims include current and former officials from the US State Department, the Central Intelligence Agency, the US ambassador to Israel, and an Iranian human rights organization.
Then last May, the three hackers successfully gained access to accounts belonging to Trump campaign officials. (Attempts to rape Biden campaign staff were apparently unsuccessful.) President Joe Biden's campaign staff, as well as media outlets such as Washington Post and political received unsolicited emails from an AOL account owned by “Robert” that contained materials stolen from the Trump campaign. They included some internal polling results and the investigative file of Trump's running mate, Senator JD Vance.
Due to extradition laws, it is unlikely that these hackers will be brought to justice on US soil.
