The FBI is investigating claims that Iranian hackers targeted the Trump campaign during the election.
The Trump team says these hackers, who they believe were working for Iran, got hold of their documents illegally. The FBI didn’t mention Trump or Iran directly in their brief statement, but they confirmed they’re looking into the matter.
According to the BBC, the investigation also includes checking if Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’s campaign was targeted by the same hackers.
Microsoft reported that Iranian hackers tried to send a fake email to the Trump campaign in June, hoping someone would click on a harmful link. Trump later said that the hackers only got public information.
The FBI started investigating this early in the summer after both campaigns reported similar hacking attempts.
The BBC mentioned that a few Biden-Harris campaign staff members were targeted by these phishing emails before Biden announced he was dropping out of the race.
The Harris campaign stated that they are very careful about cybersecurity and haven’t noticed any breaches.
Democratic lawmakers, as reported by the BBC, are urging the FBI to act quickly in identifying the hacking attempts, citing concerns over slow responses in the past, like in 2016 with Russian interference. They want the FBI to share what they know so far.
The FBI’s probe began in June, and recently, Democratic Congressman Eric Swalwell asked the Department of Homeland Security to brief him on the alleged hacking of Trump’s campaign. He pointed out that while Trump may have sought foreign interference in the past, the U.S. should never accept foreign meddling in its elections.
The BBC also noted that U.S. security sources had previously warned of a separate Iranian plot against Trump, unrelated to the recent hacking.
This news comes as the U.S. Justice Department charged a Pakistani man with ties to Iran, accusing him of plotting to kill U.S. officials, possibly including Trump.
Credit : BBC
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce9znr5vne2o