U.S. intelligence agencies, led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, said in the statement today that they believe that Iran is behind attempts to hack both the Trump and Harris presidential campaigns.
The statement follows previous reports, including one from Microsoft Corp., that Iran state-sponsored hackers were doing exactly that. The Iranian campaign first gained widespread attention after the Trump campaign alleged on Aug. 11 that it was hacked by foreign sources hostile to the U.S.
Politico had revealed that it had been receiving emails from July 22 onward from an AOL account belonging to a user named “Robert.” The report said it contained internal communications from a senior Trump campaign official. Prior to the claim being made, on Aug. 9 Microsoft had released a report that Iran was targeting both presidential campaigns and had infiltrated one campaign without specifically naming the Trump campaign.
Forward to today and the FBI, along with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency, released a joint statement saying that “Iran seeks to stoke discord and undermine confidence in our democratic institutions” and that Iran was behind the hacking of the Trump campaign.
The statement states that the intelligence community “is confident that the Iranians have, through social engineering and other efforts, sought access to individuals with direct access to the presidential campaigns of both political parties.” Further, it says, “such activity, including thefts and disclosures, are intended to influence the U.S. election process.”
It’s noted that the attempt to influence elections and democratic processes is not new, with the intelligence community saying that “Iran and Russia have employed these tactics not only in the United States during this and prior federal election cycles but also in other countries around the world.”
“We will not tolerate foreign efforts to influence or interfere with our elections, including the targeting of American political campaigns,” the joint statement from the intelligence community said.
The FBI and the other agencies reiterated that they are committed to working closely with public and private sector partners to share information, bolster security and identify and disrupt any threats. “Just as this activity demonstrates the Iranians’ increased intent to exploit our online platforms in support of their objectives, it also demonstrates the need to increase the resilience of those platforms,” the joint statement added.