U.S. intelligence agencies have revealed that Iran attempted to share hacked information from former President Donald Trump‘s campaign with President Joe Biden‘s campaign.
What Happened: The FBI and other intelligence agencies disclosed on Wednesday that Iran attempted to pass hacked Trump campaign information to the Biden campaign, reported The Hill.
"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," the FBI, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI,) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) said in a joint statement.
These emails contained excerpts from stolen, non-public Trump campaign material.
The agencies confirmed that there is no evidence indicating that the recipients responded to these emails. Vice President Kamala Harris‘ campaign condemned the sharing of Trump campaign data, stating that the phishing emails sent by Iran were ignored.
Harris-Walz campaign spokesperson Morgan Finkelstein stated, “We have cooperated with the appropriate law enforcement authorities since we were made aware that individuals associated with the then-Biden campaign were among the intended victims of this foreign influence operation.”
The Trump campaign implied that their opponents may have utilized the information, with campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt calling on Harris and Biden to clarify if they had made use of the hacked material.
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The ODNI and FBI’s statement emphasized that there is no evidence of any response from the Biden campaign to the Iranian emails.
Iran has denied involvement in the hacking, stating that it does not engage in U.S. electoral controversies. Ali Karimi Magham, spokesman for the Iranian Mission to the United Nations, called for the U.S. to provide substantiated evidence of the accusations.
Why It Matters: The revelation of Iran’s attempts to interfere in the U.S. elections comes amid heightened tensions between Iran and Western nations. Recently, Iran has been accused of supplying missiles to Russia for the Ukraine conflict, which it has vehemently denied, calling the allegations based on “faulty intelligence.”
Additionally, Meta Platforms Inc. recently thwarted an Iranian hacking attempt targeting key figures linked to both President Biden and former President Trump. The hackers, identified as APT42, were blocked from using WhatsApp accounts to carry out their operations.
Moreover, OpenAI uncovered and dismantled an Iranian influence operation using ChatGPT to manipulate public opinion during the 2024 elections. The operation, named Storm-2035, aimed to spread disinformation through social media and fake news outlets.
This incident also follows a Russian disinformation campaign that falsely accused Harris of a hit-and-run incident, further highlighting the ongoing foreign efforts to influence U.S. politics.
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This story was generated using Benzinga Neuro and edited by Kaustubh Bagalkote
© 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
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