Jump to content

Iranian interference in the 2024 United States elections

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
2024 U.S. presidential election
Democratic Party
Republican Party
Third parties
Related races
← 2020 2024 2028 →

The Iranian government has interfered in the 2024 United States elections through social media efforts and hacking operations.[1][2] Iranian interference has come amidst larger foreign interference in the 2024 United States elections. The efforts were identified as an effort to tip the race against former president Donald Trump through propaganda and disinformation campaigns. However, Iranian efforts have also targeted Joe Biden and Kamala Harris with similar attacks, which The New York Times stated suggested "a wider goal of sowing internal discord and discrediting the democratic system in the United States more broadly in the eyes of the world."[3]

In June 2024, the presidential campaign of Donald Trump, the former president of the United States, and the re-election campaign of Joe Biden, the president of United States, were targets of a hacking operation.[4] According to Microsoft, a high-ranking official to a U.S. presidential campaign fell victim to a spear phishing attack perpetrated by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is currently investigating the hack.[5][6] U.S. intelligence agencies stated they were confident that the hacks were perpetrated by Iran on August 19.[2]

Background

[edit]

In March 2021, the National Intelligence Council released a report that found Russia and Iran carried out operations to influence the 2020 election.[7] A declassified U.S. intelligence report released in December 2023 found with "high confidence" that a "diverse and growing group of foreign actors" including China, Russia, Iran, and Cuba had all interfered in the 2022 midterms with influence campaigns.[8]

By July 2024, American intelligence assessments concluded that Iran had covertly supported pro-Palestinian protests on university campuses using social media by posing as students with operatives providing financial assistance to some protest groups in an attempt to stoke division ahead of the 2024 election.[9][10]

Analysis

[edit]

Analysis of Iranian interference has suggested Trump's withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal and the 2020 assassination of Qassim Suleimani may play a role in Iranian efforts to denigrate Trump. However, The New York Times stated Iran's attacks against Biden and Harris suggest "a wider goal of sowing internal discord and discrediting the democratic system in the United States more broadly in the eyes of the world." It cited two Iranian officials who said Iran was "largely unconcerned with the ultimate victor in November" and believes "that Washington's animosity transcends either political party".[3] Iranian interference has been described by U.S. intelligence officials as "more aggressive" than in the past.[11]

Efforts to interfere with the 2024 United States elections

[edit]

On August 8, 2024, Microsoft reported[12] that Iran was attempting to influence the 2024 presidential election and that a group affiliated with the Revolutionary Guard had "broken into the email account of a former senior adviser to a presidential campaign".[13][14] On August 10, Politico reported that beginning on July 22, it began receiving emails from an AOL Mail account identified as "Robert" with internal communications from the Donald Trump 2024 presidential campaign, including a 271-page vetting report on vice presidential candidate JD Vance's potential vulnerabilities, and another document on Marco Rubio, whom Trump had also considered as a running mate. The account did not state how it obtained the documents.[15] The Trump campaign confirmed it had been hacked following Politico's report. Trump advisor Steven Cheung noted Microsoft's report that accused the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of hacking into the campaign.[16] Although the Trump campaign had become aware of the hack earlier in the summer, it did not report the hack to law enforcement at the time.[17] On August 12 the Harris campaign also claimed to have been victims of a failed spear phishing attack by Iran.[18] On August 14, 2024, Google's Threat Analysis Group reported that Iran had attempted to hack the Trump and Biden-Harris campaigns in May and June.[13] According to Google, IRGC-linked group APT42 targeted approximately twelve people associated with the Trump and Biden campaigns.[19] The Washington Post and The New York Times also reported having received hacked materials similar to those described by Politico.[17][20] On August 9, longtime Trump advisor Roger Stone stated that Microsoft had contacted him several months prior that his Hotmail account had been compromised and that it believed the culprit had been Iran, and that a few weeks prior the FBI had informed him his Gmail account had also been compromised.[21] On August 16, OpenAI stated that it had prevented an Iranian misinformation campaign that included falsehoods about the 2024 election.[22] On August 19, American intelligence agencies confirmed that Iran had hacked the Trump campaign and attempted to hack the Biden-Harris campaign through social engineering.[23]

On August 23, Meta announced that it had blocked WhatsApp accounts associated with APT42. The accounts had posed as tech support for companies such as Google and Microsoft, and targeted "political and diplomatic officials, and other public figures, including some associated with administrations of President Biden and former President Trump."[24] Some of the people who were targeted reported suspicious messages to WhatsApp, prompting Meta to investigate; it judged that the targeted accounts had not been compromised.[25]

An Iranian hacking group linked to APT42 used a fake recruitment business to target national security officials in Iran, Syria, and Lebanon for cyber espionage, according to research by Mandiant. The operation, active since 2017, aimed to gather sensitive data for Iranian intelligence.[26]

Reactions

[edit]

Chris Krebs, the former director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, wrote on X, "Someone is running the 2016 playbook."[27]

On August 19, 2024, a joint statement by officials from the FBI, Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency stated that "Iran seeks to stoke discord and undermine confidence in our democratic institutions" and that the Islamic Republic had "demonstrated a longstanding interest in exploiting societal tensions through various means".[23]

Iran has called allegations of its interference "unsubstantiated and devoid of any standing" and that the "Islamic Republic of Iran harbors neither the intention nor the motive to interfere with the U.S. presidential election".[23]

See also

[edit]

Notes

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Harris, Shane; Nakashima, Ellen; Dawsey, Josh (August 13, 2024). "Suspected Iranian hacks are latest round of U.S. election interference". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on August 16, 2024. Retrieved August 16, 2024.
  2. ^ a b Stein, Perry (August 19, 2024). "FBI says it's confident Iran tried to hack Trump presidential campaign". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on September 4, 2024. Retrieved August 19, 2024.
  3. ^ a b Myers, Steven Lee; Hsu, Tiffany; Fassihi, Farnaz (September 4, 2024). "Iran Emerges as a Top Disinformation Threat in U.S. Presidential Race". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on September 4, 2024.
  4. ^ Barrett, Devlin; Dawsey, Josh; Pager, Tyler; Arnsdorf, Isaac; Harris, Shane (August 12, 2024). "FBI probing alleged Iran hack attempts targeting Trump, Biden camps". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on August 17, 2024. Retrieved August 16, 2024.
  5. ^ Goldman, Adam; Haberman, Maggie; Thrush, Glenn (August 12, 2024). "F.B.I. Investigating Hacking That Trump Campaign Attributes to Iran". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on August 16, 2024.
  6. ^ Collier, Kevin; Dilanian, Ken; De Luce, Dan (2024-08-12). "FBI says it's investigating efforts to hack Trump and Biden-Harris campaigns". NBC News. Retrieved 2024-08-27.
  7. ^ Samuels, Brett (June 4, 2024). "Biden on foreign election meddling: 'All the bad guys are rooting for Trump'". The Hill. Archived from the original on August 27, 2024. Retrieved September 4, 2024.
  8. ^ Bo Lillis, Katie (December 18, 2024). "China, Russia, Iran and Cuba all tried to meddle in 2022 US congressional elections, intelligence assessment finds". CNN. Archived from the original on August 18, 2024. Retrieved September 7, 2024.
  9. ^ Myers, Steven Lee; Hsu, Tiffany; Fassihi, Farnaz (September 4, 2024). "Iran Emerges as a Top Disinformation Threat in U.S. Presidential Race". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on September 4, 2024. Across the United States this spring, Iran also used social media to stoke student-organized protests against Israel's war in Gaza, with operatives providing financial assistance and posing as students, according to American intelligence assessments.
  10. ^ Klepper, David (July 9, 2024). "Iran encourages Gaza war protests in US to stoke outrage and distrust, intelligence chief says". The Associated Press. Archived from the original on September 7, 2024.
  11. ^ Klepper, David (September 3, 2024). "China-linked 'Spamouflage' network mimics Americans online to sway US political debate". The Associated Press. Archived from the original on September 4, 2024. Retrieved September 4, 2024.
  12. ^ Watts, Clint (August 8, 2024). "Iran Targeting 2024 US Election". Microsoft. Archived from the original on August 16, 2024. Retrieved August 16, 2024.}
  13. ^ a b Collier, Kevin (August 14, 2024). "Google says it observed Iran trying to hack the Trump and Biden-Harris campaigns". USA Today. Archived from the original on August 16, 2024. Retrieved August 16, 2024.
  14. ^ Kim, Juliana (August 9, 2024). "Microsoft detects fake news sites linked to Iran aimed at meddling in U.S. election". NPR. Archived from the original on August 15, 2024. Retrieved August 12, 2024.
  15. ^ Isenstadt, Alex (August 10, 2024). "We received internal Trump documents from 'Robert.' Then the campaign confirmed it was hacked". Politico. Archived from the original on August 11, 2024. Retrieved August 12, 2024.
  16. ^ "Trump campaign says it has been hacked". CBS News. August 12, 2024. Archived from the original on August 12, 2024. Retrieved August 12, 2024.
  17. ^ a b Dawsey, Josh; Arnsdorf, Isaac; Nakashima, Ellen; Harris, Shane (2024-08-11). "Trump campaign says it is victim of foreign hack after leak of Vance report". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2024-08-26.
  18. ^ Morrison, Dan (August 12, 2024). "FBI probes Trump hack, Harris team says it was also targeted in failed attempt". USA Today. Archived from the original on August 15, 2024.
  19. ^ Greenberg, Andy (August 14, 2024). "A Single Iranian Hacker Group Targeted Both Presidential Campaigns, Google Says". Wired. Archived from the original on August 15, 2024. Retrieved August 15, 2024.
  20. ^ Sanger, David E.; Gold, Michael (2024-08-11). "The Hacking of Presidential Campaigns Begins, With the Usual Fog of Motives". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2024-08-12. Retrieved 2024-08-27.
  21. ^ Goldman, Adam; Haberman, Maggie; Glen, Thrush (August 12, 2024). "F.B.I. Investigating Efforts to Infiltrate Presidential Campaigns, Possibly by Iran". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on August 28, 2024.
  22. ^ Metz, Cade (August 16, 2024). "OpenAI Says It Disrupted an Iranian Misinformation Campaign". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on August 17, 2024.
  23. ^ a b c Thrush, Glenn; Goldman, Adam (August 19, 2024). "Iran Is to Blame for Hacking Into Trump's Campaign, Intelligence Officials Say". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on August 28, 2024. Retrieved September 4, 2024.
  24. ^ Beckford, Jalen (2024-08-24). "Iranian hackers target WhatsApp accounts of Biden and Trump administration associates, Meta says | CNN Politics". CNN. Retrieved 2024-08-27.
  25. ^ "Iranian hackers targeted WhatsApp accounts of staffers in Biden, Trump administrations, Meta says". AP News. 2024-08-23. Archived from the original on 2024-08-26. Retrieved 2024-08-27.
  26. ^ Bing, Christopher (2024-08-28). "Iran operated fake human-resources firm to root out unfriendly spies, researchers say". Reuters. Retrieved 2024-08-28.
  27. ^ Volz, Dustin; Salama, Vivian (August 10, 2024). "Trump Campaign Says It Was Hacked". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on August 11, 2024. Retrieved August 12, 2024.
Retrieved from "https://wiki.riteme.site/w/index.php?title=Iranian_interference_in_the_2024_United_States_elections&oldid=1245044708"