In the middle of the election campaign, hackers are targeting the teams of Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. Is this an attempt to influence the US election?
The campaign team of the Democratic US presidential candidate Kamala Harris says it has become the target of a foreign cyber attack. According to the report, the team was informed by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in July about an “influence campaign by foreign actors”.
A spokeswoman for Harris’ campaign team stressed that they have “robust cybersecurity” – and that, as far as we know, no one has been able to break into the systems. “We remain in contact with the relevant law enforcement authorities.”
The FBI had previously confirmed that it was investigating possible hacker access to internal communications from Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s campaign team. Politico was the first to report on the case at the weekend after the news portal received several emails from a sender named “Robert” that contained internal communications from the campaign team. The Washington Post and New York Times were contacted in a similar way.
Not only Kamala Harris, but also Trump’s team apparently attacked
According to Politico, the Trump team blamed “foreign actors hostile to the United States” for the cyberattack and cited a threat analysis by the Microsoft Threat Analysis Center, which, among other things, deals with alleged Iranian interference in the US election campaign. The analysis states that a group linked to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard broke into the account of a former high-ranking member of a campaign team and used it to send so-called spear phishing emails.
Microsoft did not identify any specific people or parties in the risk analysis. However, according to US media, Roger Stone, a close confidant of Trump, could have been among those affected. He told the Washington Post that his email account had been compromised. His lawyer told CNN that he had been contacted by both Microsoft and the FBI about the matter.
The Trump team did not provide any direct evidence of a hack by Iranian actors to Politico. The Washington Post, citing informants familiar with the situation, said that the FBI suspects Iranian actors were behind the cyberattacks – but it is less clear whether the same groups also sent the emails to the US journalists.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
