FBI opens investigation after suspicious claim that Iranian hackers targeted Trump campaign

08/16/2024 / By Arsenio Toledo

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has opened an investigation into reports that alleged Iranian or Tehran-linked hackers may have targeted the campaign of former President Donald Trump.

Trump’s campaign reported that it has received a cyber threat assessment report from Microsoft. The report notes that a cyber group dubbed “Mint Sandstorm” hacked one of the campaign’s websites. The campaign added that the alleged Iranian group was “only able to get publicly available information.”

The Microsoft Threat Analysis Center’s assessment believes that Mint Sandstorm is tied to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and used what is known as a “spear phishing” email tactic take over the account of an unspecified, high-ranking political advisor for Trump’s campaign and then used it to steal documents from the campaign back in June. (Related: Kamala Harris’ national security adviser being investigated by Congress over possible ties to Iran.)

Spear phishing is when a hacker or hacking group tries to gain access to the email or other digital profiles of individuals or organizations by placing a malicious link in a message. When this is clicked, it installs malware on the computer or smartphone being used that allows hackers to access all of the information it contains.

After Microsoft released its assessment, Politico published a report detailing that it had received documents from an unknown AOL email address from someone going by the pseudonym “Robert.” A day later, the New York Times reported that it had received the same cache of documents.

The documents appear to be from the Trump campaign. They include drafts of what appear to be vetting profiles for Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, written when their names were both being circulated by the Trump campaign as potential running mates.

After the documents were sent to the media outlets, the Trump campaign confirmed that it was hacked, stating that “foreign sources hostile to the United States” stole the documents.

Iran may be stepping up efforts to influence U.S. elections

Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung reported that the alleged Iranian-backed hacking operation coincides with other recent reports that Iran is targeting Trump, believed to be a years-long campaign of revenge for Trump ordering the Jan. 3, 2020 drone strike that killed Gen. Qassem Soleimani, leader of the IRGC’s special forces unit – the Quds Force – at the time.

The Iranian government has denied targeting the Trump campaign.

The FBI is also looking into potential attempts by foreign parties to hack into the former campaign of President Joe Biden and the ongoing campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris. Iran is also the leading suspect for the attempted attacks on these campaigns, with the goal of stealing sensitive data.

Mint Sandstorm is just one of at least four hacking groups alleged to be linked to the IRGC – the other three being Cotton Sandstorm, Lemon Sandstorm and Peach Sandstorm. They have reportedly been active over the past election cycles trying to influence the election, including by setting up fake news sites that contain content favorable toward Tehran and its political and social policies, as well as disparaging politicians and candidates hostile to Iran.

If Iran is indeed behind the hack against the Trump campaign, and if the country did share the documents with U.S. media outlets to spread them and discredit the Trump campaign, it could suggest that Tehran’s efforts to sway the election – specifically to get voters to dislike Trump – are getting bolder.

Trump believes this is because his foreign policy decisions related to Iran are better for the U.S. and harsher against Tehran than what the Democrats can come up with.

Watch this daily update video from political commentator Alex Christoforou as he discusses the alleged Iranian-linked hack against the Trump campaign.

This video is from the Oldyoti’s Home Page channel on Brighteon.com.