Iranian hackers attempted to interfere in the 2024 election by targeting people connected to President Biden’s campaign with stolen information from the rival campaign of former President Donald Trump. The hackers sent unsolicited emails containing excerpts from stolen, non-public material from Trump’s campaign in an effort to influence the election. Although there is no evidence that any recipients responded to the emails, federal agencies have confirmed the attempted interference.
In late July, federal agencies including the FBI, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and the Department of Homeland Security revealed that Iran was working to weaken Trump’s candidacy while Russia was attempting to do the opposite. The FBI has been investigating whether Iranian hackers targeted individuals associated with both the Trump and Biden-Harris campaigns. Campaign spokespersons for Harris and Trump responded to the revelations, with Harris stating that few individuals associated with Biden’s campaign were targeted with what appeared to be spam or phishing attempts, while Trump’s campaign accused Iran of actively interfering in the election to help Biden and Harris.
A Microsoft threat intelligence report from last month provided examples of Iranian groups seeking to influence the 2024 election. Former Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency director Chris Krebs commented on the revelations, stating that Iran’s efforts are multi-pronged and intended to damage the Trump campaign. The Trump campaign disclosed in August that it had been hacked by Iranian actors who stole and distributed sensitive internal documents to news outlets such as Politico, The New York Times, and The Washington Post. These outlets have refused to reveal details about the information they received.
The Iranian mission to the U.N. responded to the FBI’s allegations by stating that they are fundamentally unfounded and wholly inadmissible. Iran denies any motive or intent to interfere in the U.S. election and categorically repudiates the accusations. The mission called on the U.S. government to provide substantiated evidence transparently if they seek the truth about Iran’s involvement in election interference. The situation highlights the ongoing threat of foreign interference in U.S. elections and the challenges of cybersecurity in safeguarding against malicious activities by state actors.
