A recent investigation by Google confirmed that an Iranian hacking group targeted the presidential campaigns of former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.
Wednesday Report An investigation by the Google Threat Analysis Group found that hackers, an Iranian government-backed threat actor known as APT42, attempted to compromise approximately a dozen email accounts linked to the campaign.
“We successfully gained access to the personal Gmail account of a prominent political consultant.”
“APT42, which has ties to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), has consistently targeted high-profile users, including current and former Israeli and U.S. government officials, political campaigners, diplomats, think tank staff, NGOs and academic institutions that contribute to the foreign policy debate,” Google reported.
The company said it blocked “numerous” attempts by APT42 to log into the personal email accounts of current and former political campaigns. It noted that it had thwarted similar attacks by APT42 against the Trump and Biden campaigns during the 2020 presidential election.
Despite multiple blockades, Google reported that APT42 “successfully gained access to the personal Gmail account of a prominent political consultant,” but did not say whose account had been compromised.
Google has notified targeted campaigns and law enforcement agencies.
The Trump campaign reported over the weekend that an Iranian group had hacked into its internal communications in June. The intrusion resulted in the release of a campaign research report on Trump’s running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio). The campaign noted that the 271-page report only contained publicly available information about Vance.
Microsoft also released a report confirming that an Iranian group with ties to the IRGC had sent phishing emails to “senior officials in the presidential campaign.” Like Google, Microsoft did not identify the targets of the attacks.
of FBI The company later released a statement saying it was “investigating the matter.”
“Our campaign closely monitors and defends against cyber threats and is not aware of any security breaches of our systems,” the Harris campaign said in a statement.
“These documents were illegally obtained from foreign sources hostile to the United States and were intended to interfere in the 2024 election and sow chaos throughout the Democratic electoral process,” Trump campaign spokesman Steven Chang told Politico.
“Iran knows that President Trump will end their reign of terror just as he did during his first four years in the White House,” Chang added. “Media and outlets that reprint documents and internal communications are following the orders of America’s enemies and doing exactly what they want.”
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