U.S. agencies revealed on Wednesday that Iranian hackers sent emails over the summer to individuals involved in President Joe Biden’s re-election campaign. These emails contained stolen materials from the campaign of Republican candidate Donald Trump, as part of efforts to influence the November 5 elections.
In a joint statement, the FBI, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and Office of the Director of National Intelligence said, “Since June, Iranian cyber actors have continued attempts to send stolen, non-public materials linked to former President Trump’s campaign to U.S. media outlets.”
Tehran has previously denied interfering in U.S. elections, and the Iranian mission to the United Nations in New York has not yet responded to requests for comment.
In August, the U.S. accused Iran of launching cyber operations against both presidential campaigns, aiming to sow political division.
The statement noted that, in late June and early July, Iranian hackers sent unsolicited emails to members of Biden’s campaign containing portions of stolen Trump campaign materials. These emails appeared to be part of phishing attempts.
Although Joe Biden withdrew from the presidential race on July 21 and was replaced by Kamala Harris as the Democratic candidate, a spokesperson for Harris’s campaign stated, “We are unaware of any direct materials being sent to the campaign. A small number of individuals were targeted on their personal email with what seemed to be spam or phishing attempts.”
