Former President Donald Trump’s campaign said some of its communications had been hacked.
The campaign blamed “foreign sources hostile to the United States” and cited a Microsoft report on Friday that said Iranian hackers tried to hack a senior presidential campaign official.
Political reported that they had begun receiving emails from an anonymous account with documents from inside the Trump operation.
Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung told the outlet they had no further information related to the suggestion they were attacked by Iran.
He said: ‘These documents were illegally obtained from foreign sources hostile to the United States, with the intent of interfering in the 2024 elections and sowing chaos throughout our democratic process.
Former President Donald Trump’s campaign has said some of its communications had been hacked.
‘On Friday, a new report from Microsoft found that Iranian hackers breached the account of a ‘senior official’ in the US presidential campaign in June 2024, coinciding with the near timing of President Trump’s selection of a vice presidential candidate.’
Cheung declined to say whether the campaign had been in contact with Microsoft or law enforcement about the data breach.
Politico reported that they began receiving emails from an anonymous account that identified itself only as Robert.
The email account transmitted internal communications from a senior Trump campaign official and an investigative dossier on Ohio Sen. JD Vance, his running mate.
The documents, dated February, included publicly available information about Vance, including his past criticism of Trump, identified as “potential vulnerabilities.”
The account told the outlet they had a “variety of documents,” from Trump’s legal team and court documents to internal campaign discussions.
When asked how they obtained them, the account replied: ‘I suggest you don’t be curious about where I got them from.
‘Any answer to this question will compromise me and also legally restrict you from publishing them.’
Microsoft on Thursday revealed that it found several Iranian groups spreading polarizing messages and provocative posts on controversial and politically divisive topics.
This comes after US intelligence reports that there was an Iranian plot to assassinate Trump for ordering the killing of Iranian military officer Qassem Soleimani in 2020.
Microsoft researchers revealed Thursday that they found several Iranian groups spreading polarizing messages and inflammatory posts on controversial and politically divisive topics.
According to Microsoft’s latest threat intelligence report, cybercriminals have been using covert news sites that appeal to voter groups from opposite ends of the political spectrum to further alienate both sides.
Evidence uncovered by the company suggests that these sites have been using AI-enabled services to plagiarize some of their content from US publications.
Microsoft did not name the posts in its report. Notably, the report did not suggest that any attacks had been carried out against Vice President Kamala Harris.
Apart from this, the report also noted that an Iranian group connected to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had previously attempted to break into the email accounts of campaign officials.
The documents, dated February, included publicly available information about Vance, including his past criticism of Trump, identified as “potential vulnerabilities.”
Microsoft’s report did not suggest that any attacks had occurred against Vice President Kamala Harris.
Evidence uncovered by the company suggests that these sites have been using AI-enabled services to plagiarize some of their content from US publications.
Microsoft did not name the posts in its report. Notably, the report did not suggest that any attacks had been carried out against Vice President Kamala Harris.
Apart from this, the report also noted that an Iranian group connected to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had previously attempted to break into the email accounts of campaign officials.
The findings are the latest evidence that foreign governments are carrying out clandestine operations ahead of the US election in November.
In 2020, two Iranian men posed as members of the right-wing group Proud Boys as part of a voter intimidation effort, according to the FBI. They were later charged for their involvement.
In the same election year, Iranian hackers breached a website used by a US municipal government to publish election results.
The attackers were caught before carrying out any nefarious activity, US cybersecurity officials later clarified.
In his statement on Saturday, Cheung pointed to those reports, saying: “The Iranian people know that President Trump will stop his reign of terror just as he did in his first four years in the White House.”