FBI Confirms Iranian Hack Targeting Trump Campaign

The FBI confirmed late Monday recent reports that Iran hacked the campaign of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and said the foreign adversary is seeking “to stoke discord and undermine confidence in our democratic institutions” throughout the 2024 election cycle.

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The bureau said in a Monday statement that Iran and Russia have “sought access to individuals with direct access to the presidential campaigns of both political parties” through social engineering and other influence efforts. Trump’s campaign previously said it was the target of an Iranian-backed cyberattack after media outlets began receiving emails from an anonymous account containing a research dossier that included information on Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio.

“We have observed increasingly aggressive Iranian activity during this election cycle,” the FBI said in a joint statement published with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. “The FBI has been tracking this activity, has been in contact with the victims and will continue to investigate and gather information in order to pursue and disrupt the threat actors responsible.”

The FBI confirmed in an earlier statement sent to reporters Aug. 12 that it was investigating the Trump campaign hacking as experts warned of increased attempts to influence the 2024 elections as the campaign season was heating up nationwide (Trump Leak Likely a Harbinger of More Interference to Come). Authorities and cybersecurity analysts also observed an uptick in online misinformation and nation-state disinformation campaigns following the attempted assassination against the former president in July.

Computing giant Google days later published research attributing Iranian campaign hacking to a group it tracks as APT42, which operates on behalf of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Intelligence Organization. Google, which through Gmail operates the most popular email platform, said it “continues to observe unsuccessful attempts from APT 42 to compromise the personal accounts of individuals affiliated with President Biden, Vice President Harris and former President Trump, including current and former government officials and individuals associated with the campaigns” (see: Iran Still Attempting to Hack US Elections: Google).

The FBI urged officials to use strong passwords and official email accounts, in addition to “avoiding clicking on links or opening attachments from suspicious emails before confirming their authenticity with the sender.” The bureau also called on campaigns to turn on multi-factor authentication, saying the simple security measure “will drastically improve online security and safety.

Campaigns and election infrastructure stakeholders are also encouraged to report suspicious cyber activity and other criminal acts to local election crime coordinators through their FBI field office or online at ic3.gov.