Tech

FBI is probing alleged hack on US presidential campaigns

Published

1 month ago

August 13, 2024

Following Microsoft’s intelligence report of an Iranian group targeting US election campaigns, and the former President Donald Trump’s campaign citing this intelligence as the source for a breach of internal communications, the FBI has officially opened an investigation into the attack.

It has now also emerged the same Iranian group may have also targeted the former presidential campaign of Joe Biden and running-mate-turned-presidential-nominee Kamala Harris.

An FBI spokesperson acknowledged its involvement in the investigation, but did not disclose any suspects or the scope of the investigation.

US Presidential campaigns targeted

A person familiar with the Trump campaign confirmed the personal email of a senior Trump campaign official had been accessed. This official would have likely had access to the JD Vance vetting document that was leaked to the press. It is important to note that the email address was a personal email, not one affiliated or provided by the campaign, and was not protected with two-factor authentication.

Speaking to Politico, an attorney for Roger Stone, a long term advisor for Trump, said that they had been contacted by both the tech giant and the security services in relation to a breach of his email account, with Stone’s lawyer Grant Smith stating, “Roger Stone is cooperating.”

Another individual familiar with the FBI investigation stated that the Bureau began probing potential spear-phishing attacks back in June 2024, with the attacks also targeting the Biden-Harris campaign. There has been no confirmation on the success of those attacks, with a Harris campaign official stating that they, “are not aware of any security breaches of our systems.”

While the Trump campaign said the compromised email was accessed by “foreign sources hostile to the United States” and linked the attack to Microsoft’s intelligence report on Iranian groups targeting the US elections, the FBI has not yet attributed the attack.