US intelligence officials say they are confident Iran is responsible for hacking Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. File | Photo credit: Reuters
US intelligence officials said on Monday that they were confident that Iran was responsible for the attack. Hacking of Donald Trump’s presidential campaignHe described the cyber intrusions as part of a brazen and widespread effort by Tehran to interfere in American politics and undermine confidence in democratic institutions.
Although the Trump campaign and private sector cybersecurity investigators had previously said Iran was behind the hacking attempts, this was the first time the US government blamed Iran for the attack.
The joint statement said, The FBI and other federal agencies also indicated that Iran was responsible As for the attempts to hack Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign, he said the hackers “were seeking to gain access to individuals with direct access to presidential campaigns from both political parties.”
Federal officials said the goal of the hacking and other activity was not just to sow discord but to shape the outcome of the election, which Iran “views as particularly important given its impact on its national security interests.”
“We have seen increased offensive activity by Iran during this election cycle, including influence operations specifically targeting the American public and cyber operations targeting presidential campaigns,” the statement said. The statement was also issued by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency in addition to the FBI.
The statement largely confirms findings from private companies such as Microsoft, which earlier this month released a report detailing efforts by foreign agents to interfere in this year’s election, and Google, which separately said an Iranian group linked to the country’s Revolutionary Guard tried since May to infiltrate the personal email accounts of about a dozen people connected to President Joe Biden and Trump.