Thought Leadership
US intelligence agencies and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have published new findings about the hacker access from Iran to internal communications of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s campaign team that became public in August.
According to a statement published by the authorities on Wednesday, the Iranian hackers are said to have forwarded stolen material to people connected to the campaign team of Joe Biden – then the Democratic presidential candidate – at the end of June and beginning of July.
The aim of such actions is to sow discord, undermine confidence in the electoral process and influence the outcome of the US elections, according to the joint statement from the FBI, ODNI (Office of National Intelligence) and Cisa (Cybersecurity Agency). There is no evidence that the recipients responded or reacted in any way to the forwarding of the stolen information. The Iranian hackers therefore continued their efforts to send stolen, non-public material from the Trump team to the US media.
The authorities warned that “foreign actors” were stepping up their activities to influence the election ahead of the presidential election on November 5. “Russia, Iran and China in particular are seeking to exacerbate divisions in US society for their own benefit and see elections as moments of vulnerability.” Such influence is a direct threat to the USA and will not be tolerated.
dpa
