WASHINGTON: Iranian hackers shared unsolicited information they had stolen from former US President Donald Trump’s presidential campaign with people who were associated with US President Joe Biden’s campaign over the summer, CNN reported, citing federal law enforcement officials.
In a joint statement, the office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency announced that 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,” according to a CNN report.
According to the statement, there is no indication that Biden’s staff ever responded. In the statement, the law enforcement said that the hackers efforts to send information to US media outlets has continued.
The statement said that the hack is one of the various efforts made by the Iranian government trying to “stoke discord and undermine confidence in our electoral process,” CNN reported. Previously, law enforcement officials have said that those efforts also comprised an unsuccessful attempt to hack the Biden-Harris campaign.
Iranian government-backed hackers stole Trump campaign documents and shared them with news organisations, CNN had reported. Beginning on July 22, Politico had reported that it had received emails that mentioned internal communication from a senior Trump campaign official and a research dossier the campaign had put together on Trump’s running mate and Ohio Senator, JD Vance.
Later, The New York Times and The Washington Post had also reported that they had received similar information, including a 271-page document on Vance dated February 23 and labelled “privileged & confidential,” that the outlets said was based on information available in public, the report said.
The Iranian hackers did breach the email account of Trump’s long time ally Roger Stone to target campaign staff in June, according to CNN report. US officials believe the Iranian hackers work for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGS).
Investigators believe the suspected Iranian hackers breached Roger Stone’s account. The hackers then used Stone’s email account to try to break into the account of a senior Trump campaign official as part of their efforts to access campaign networks.
Elections in the US are set to be held on November 5. Donald Trump is the Republican presidential nominee, while US Vice President Kamala Harris is the Democratic nominee. Earlier in July, Biden withdrew from the presidential race and endorsed Harris as the Democratic candidate for presidential elections. (ANI)