Former President Donald Trump’s campaign team has said some of their communications were hacked.
The campaign blamed “foreign sources hostile to the United States” and cited a Microsoft report on Friday that said Iranian hackers had attempted to hack a senior presidential campaign official.
Politics reported that they had begun receiving emails from an anonymous account containing documents from inside Trump’s operation.
Steven Cheung, a spokesman for the Trump campaign, told the newspaper that they had no further information about the suggestion that they were attacked by Iran.
He said, ‘These documents were obtained illegally from foreign sources hostile to the United States, with the intent to influence the 2024 election and sow chaos throughout the democratic process.
Trump speaks at a rally in the Brick Breeden Fieldhouse at Montana State University on August 9, 2024 in Bozeman, Montana
‘Microsoft said in a new report Friday that Iranian hackers breached the account of a “senior official” of the U.S. presidential campaign in June 2024, around the time President Trump has selected a vice presidential nominee.’
Cheung declined to say whether the campaign had contacted Microsoft or law enforcement about the site breach.
Politico reported that they began receiving emails from an anonymous account identifying itself only as Robert.
The email account was used to pass along internal communications from a senior Trump campaign official and an investigative file on Ohio Party leader JD Vance and his running mate.
The documents, dated February, also included public information about Vance, such as his past criticisms of Trump, which were labeled as “potential vulnerabilities.”
Researchers at the tech giant said Thursday they had found multiple Iranian groups spreading polarizing and inflammatory messages on controversial, politically divisive issues.
Cybercriminals are using secret news sites to target voter groups on opposite ends of the political spectrum to further alienate both camps, according to Microsoft’s latest threat intelligence report.
Evidence the company found shows that these sites are using AI services to copy some of their content from US publications.
Microsoft did not mention the publications in the report. Interestingly, the report did not suggest that attacks had been carried out on Vice President Kamala Harris.
In addition, the report said that an Iranian group with ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had previously attempted to break into email accounts of campaign leaders.
Evidence the company found shows that these sites are using AI services to copy some of their content from US publications.
Microsoft announced Thursday that it has found multiple Iranian groups spreading polarizing and inflammatory messages about controversial politically divisive issues
Microsoft did not mention the publications in the report. Interestingly, the report did not suggest that attacks had been carried out on Vice President Kamala Harris.
In addition, the report said that an Iranian group with ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had previously attempted to break into email accounts of campaign leaders.
The findings are the latest evidence that foreign governments are conducting covert operations in the run-up to the US elections in November.
In 2020, two Iranian men posed as members of the right-wing Proud Boys group as part of a voter intimidation effort, the FBI said. They were later charged for their involvement.
That same election year, Iranian hackers hacked a website used by a US municipal government to publish election results.
US cybersecurity officials later clarified that the attackers were caught before they carried out any malicious activity.