The FBI is investigating an alleged cyber intrusion into classified documents from President Donald Trump’s campaign and attempts to access Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign, days after the Trump campaign said it had been hacked by Iran.
The FBI released a brief statement regarding the Trump matter saying, “We can confirm that the FBI is investigating this matter.”
The Trump campaign did not provide any concrete evidence of Iranian involvement, but the allegation was made public by Microsoft The report was issued It details attempts by foreign agents to interfere in the 2024 U.S. elections.
The report cites an instance in June when Iranian military intelligence units “sent spear phishing emails to senior presidential campaign officials from a compromised email account of a former senior adviser.”
Two people familiar with the matter said the Biden-Harris campaign was also targeted in an alleged Iranian cyber intrusion that is being investigated by the FBI.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss details of the investigation.
Politico reported Saturday that the emails began coming from the anonymous account on July 22.
The source, an AOL email account identifying himself only as “Robert,” handed over what appeared to be an investigation conducted by the campaign into Republican vice presidential nominee, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance.
The document was dated February 23, about five months before Trump selected Vance as his running mate.
“These documents were obtained illegally” and “intended to interfere with the 2024 election and sow chaos throughout the Democratic electoral process,” Trump campaign spokesman Steven Chang said.
At least three Biden-Harris campaign staffers were targeted by phishing emails, but investigators have not found evidence that they were successful, one of the people said.
The attempt came before President Joe Biden dropped out of the race.
The FBI began investigating the cyberattack in June, and intelligence officials believe Iran is behind the attack, the people said.
Authorities have also been in contact with technology companies in recent months about the possible targeting of people associated with the Trump campaign and the Biden-Harris campaign through email.
“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.
He declined to comment on whether he had identified any nation-state infiltration attempts.
When asked about the Trump campaign’s claims, Iran’s mission to the United Nations denied any involvement.
But Iran has long been suspected of conducting hacking operations targeting its adversaries in the Middle East and elsewhere.
Iran has also long threatened to retaliate over the drone strike ordered by Trump in 2020 that killed Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani.
“Foreign malicious influence regarding the 2024 U.S. elections began slowly but has steadily accelerated over the past six months, driven initially by Russian activity and more recently by Iranian activity,” Microsoft said in the report.
The analysis continues: “Iranian cyber influence operations have been a consistent feature of at least the past three U.S. election cycles. Iranian activity is distinctive from Russian campaigns because it emerged later in the election season and launched cyber attacks that were focused on electioneering rather than voter mobilization.”
“Recent activity suggests that the Iranian regime, as well as the Kremlin, may be involved in the 2024 elections,” Microsoft concluded.
