The US has accused Iran of a hacker attack on Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s campaign, saying “more aggressive activities by Iran” have been noted this election cycle.
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the U.S. National Intelligence Directorate (ODNI) and the U.S. Cyber Security Agency (CISA) announced this in a joint statement on Monday, including recently disclosed activities that threatened the Trump campaign, which the U.S. intelligence community attributed to Iran.
Iran’s mission to the United Nations denied the country’s role in the hacking attack. It also called on the US to provide evidence for the allegations. “Such allegations are baseless and unfounded,” the mission said. Iran has neither the intention nor the motive to interfere in the US presidential election.
The Vance dossier has been leaked
The FBI announced last week that it is investigating possible hacker access to internal communications of Trump’s campaign team. An internal file of 271 pages about Trump’s vice-presidential candidate JD Vance was reportedly leaked to American media. In the American election campaign, such files serve, among other things, to be better prepared for political attacks from the opposing party. Trump’s spokesman spoke of a hack in this context. The campaign team of American vice-president Kamala Harris also announced that it had been the target of a foreign cyber attack.
The joint ODNI-CISA-FBI statement now goes on to say that the Iranians attempted to gain access to individuals with direct ties to the Democratic and Republican campaign teams. “These activities, including thefts and exposures, are aimed at influencing the electoral process in the United States.” Iran seeks to “stir up discord and undermine confidence in our democratic institutions.” The Vance dossier was not specifically mentioned in the statement.
Iran sees the November 5 presidential election as particularly consequential for its national security interests, US intelligence agencies have warned, increasing Tehran’s potential to “influence the outcome”.
Not unexpected for secret services
The intelligence community also noted that the procedure was not new. Iran and Russia have used the tactic not only in the United States during this and previous election cycles, but in other countries around the world. “We will not tolerate foreign attempts to influence or disrupt our elections, including targeting U.S. political campaigns,” the report said.
Last week, Google IT security experts also revealed that a hacker group close to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard had attempted to gain access to email accounts of campaign workers for the US Democrats and Republican candidate Trump. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard is the elite military force of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The hacker group, known as APT42, is said to have gained access to the personal emails of a dozen high-ranking employees of the Democratic and Republican election campaigns in May and June. At the time, US President Joe Biden was still the potential presidential candidate of the Democrats; Vice President Harris is now running against Trump.
Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
