US intelligence agencies say Iran hacked Donald Trump’s campaign team

US intelligence officials said Monday Iran He is responsible for the hacking of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, presenting the cyber intrusion as part of a broader, brazen effort by Tehran to interfere in American politics and undermine trust in democratic institutions.

The FBI and other federal agencies said Iran felt this year’s presidential election was particularly consequential and determined through hacking activity and other measures to interfere in US politics. “Stirring contradictions and undermining confidence in our democratic institutions.”

“We have seen aggressive activities by Iran in this election cycleThis includes influence operations specifically targeting the American public and cyber operations targeting presidential campaigns,” said a joint report by the FBI, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection Agency.

The joint report indicated that Iran was responsible for attempts to hack the campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris, which the hackers claimed. “He sought to reach individuals with direct access to the presidential campaign of both political parties.”

According to federal officials, the goal of the hacking and other activities was not only to sow discord, but also to “influence the outcome of an election that Iran considers particularly based on their potential impact on its national security interests.”

Investigators have pointed to Iranian hackers for accessing the private email account of Roger StoneA senior political operator and associate Donald TrumpAccording to reports, an attempt was made to hack into the account of a senior Trump campaign official cnn. The move is part of an ongoing effort to breach the campaign’s networks.

During the same process, an AOL account with the pseudonym “Robert” reportedly leaked internal campaign documents to the media. Politics. Among those documents was an investigative file JD VanceTrump’s vice presidential running mate.

The FBI has examined email logs provided by Microsoft, Google and AOL and interviewed campaign staff to identify those responsible for the hack and leak, according to sources consulted.

Attribute of the hack to the associated group Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran (IRGC) was clear. The techniques used were consistent with this well-known Iranian group, although doubts arose as to whether they were behind the leak of the documents, given their background, he said. cnn. However, researchers were able to link the digital infrastructure of the AOL account to the same Iranian hacking group.

In an email exchange between “Robert” and journalists, the person behind the account was spotted He spoke in broken English and urged a reporter to release more documents.

They didn’t just affect Trump campaign networks. According to Google researchers, these Iranian hackers also attacked the email accounts of current US officials and people related to Vice President Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden. In addition, the FBI briefed Trump on evidence pointing to Iran being responsible for the hack he publicly mentioned last week.

The FBI has collected significant evidence demonstrating the ability of these hackers to compromise multiple email accounts, including Stone’s. Trump’s comment that Iran appears to be the origin of these attacks underscores the seriousness of the situation.

(With information from AP and CNN)