Iranian Hackers Indicted for Targeting Trump’s 2024 Election Meddling Campaign

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A federal grand jury has indicted several Iranian nationals for their involvement in a hacking operation targeting Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign. According to sources familiar with the investigation, the Iranians are accused of stealing internal communications from the campaign earlier this year. Although the specific charges and identities of the defendants have yet to be disclosed, it is reported that the grand jury approved the indictment in secret. The Department of Justice is expected to make an official announcement soon.

 

In the summer, hackers allegedly accessed sensitive documents from Trump’s campaign and distributed them to journalists and individuals associated with President Joe Biden’s reelection team. This occurred before Kamala Harris became the Democratic nominee. Despite the serious nature of the breach, both the Justice Department and Trump’s campaign have refrained from public comment so far.

 

The Trump campaign publicly acknowledged the hack in August after media outlets such as POLITICO received internal materials from an anonymous source. Among the stolen documents was a research dossier on Senator JD Vance, who is Trump’s running mate. The campaign pointed fingers at Tehran for the breach. A subsequent report from Microsoft revealed that in June, Iranian hackers had targeted a senior member of Trump’s campaign with a spear-phishing attack.

Earlier this month, U.S. security agencies released a rare statement confirming that stolen materials from Trump’s campaign had indeed been sent to people connected to Biden’s campaign. However, the statement emphasized that there was no evidence the recipients acted on the information.

 

Iranian attempts to infiltrate the Biden campaign have also been documented. Google’s cybersecurity team noted Iranian efforts to breach the campaign, though no evidence suggests these attempts were successful. 

 

“Russia, Iran, and China are trying by some measure to exacerbate divisions in U.S. society for their own benefit, and see election periods as moments of vulnerability,” said U.S. security agencies in a statement, highlighting the ongoing foreign efforts to influence American politics.

 

This latest indictment is part of a broader pattern of federal action against foreign hackers, often targeting those in nations that are hostile to the United States. Although it is unlikely that these individuals will ever face arrest due to their location, U.S. officials hope that publicly naming these hackers may serve as a deterrent to future cyberattacks.

 

In a related development, the Trump campaign claimed this week that U.S. intelligence officials informed them of an Iranian plot to assassinate Trump. This follows an earlier case in which a Pakistani man was charged by the Justice Department with plotting on behalf of Iran to kill high-ranking U.S. officials. While the target was not named, reports suggest that Trump was the intended victim.

 

The motive behind these threats is believed to stem from Iran’s desire for revenge after the U.S. assassinated Iranian General Qassem Soleimani in 2020. Soleimani, the former head of Iran’s Quds Force, was killed in a U.S. airstrike ordered by Trump. The Quds Force, responsible for foreign military operations, has long been classified as a terrorist organization by the U.S. government. Since Soleimani’s death, several former Trump administration officials have maintained security due to continued threats from Iran.

 

Foreign interference in U.S. elections has been an ongoing issue for years. In 2016, Russian operatives famously hacked and released emails from Hillary Clinton’s campaign, creating a scandal that embarrassed the Democratic nominee. The Russian government also orchestrated a social media campaign to amplify divisions in U.S. society and promote Trump’s candidacy. 

 

More recently, the Justice Department charged two employees of Russian state media with funneling money to far-right American social media influencers. The goal of the operation was to spread pro-Trump and anti-Ukraine messages.

As the U.S. prepares for another contentious election, foreign efforts to influence American politics show no signs of abating.

 

Based on a report from: Politico 2024-09-28

 

 

 

[Tug]

Jail them!