Iranian hackers targeted staffers affiliated with President Joe Biden’s campaign, before he dropped out of the presidential race, attempting to distribute information stolen from former President Donald Trump’s campaign, the FBI and other federal agencies said Wednesday.
The stolen non-public material had been acquired by the Iranian actors through cyber breaches. The hackers sent unsolicited emails to people connected to the Biden campaign in an effort to interfere with the 2024 election, according to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), the FBI, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).
According to a joint statement issued by the federal agencies, the emails “contained an excerpt taken from stolen, non-public material from former President Trump’s campaign as text in the emails.”
While no responses from the recipients were reported, the federal agencies said Iranian hackers “have continued their efforts since June to send stolen, non-public material associated with former President Trump’s campaign to U.S. media organizations.”
The FBI reiterated that these activities are part of Iran’s broader strategy to disrupt U.S. electoral processes and sow discord.
Iran, along with Russia and China, is actively attempting to exacerbate societal divisions in the United States as the country approaches the November elections, the agencies said.
“As the lead for threat response, 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 statement said.
Authorities warned that foreign actors view the United States as vulnerable during elections and make efforts to undermine it.
“Efforts by these, or other foreign actors, to undermine our democratic institutions are a direct threat to the U.S. and will not be tolerated,” the agencies said.
The Trump campaign announced on Aug. 10 that Iranian hackers had stolen and leaked sensitive internal documents to media outlets including Politico, The New York Times, and The Washington Post. So far, none of the outlets have disclosed the contents.
The Trump campaign issued a statement Wednesday urging Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris and Biden to clarify whether they used the hacked material.
“This is further proof the Iranians are actively interfering in the election to help Kamala Harris and Joe Biden because they know President Trump will restore his tough sanctions and stand against their reign of terror,” said Karoline Leavitt, the Trump campaign national press secretary.
Morgan Finkelstein, a spokesperson for Harris’s campaign, said the campaign has cooperated with law enforcement.
“We’re not aware of any material being sent directly to the campaign; a few individuals were targeted on their personal emails with what looked like a spam or phishing attempt,” Finkelstein said.
