U.S. Warn of Increasing Iranian Cyber Threats to Presidential Campaigns. Credit | REUTERS
United States: On Monday, the United States claimed that Iran has been engaging in cyberattacks on the campaigns of both U. S. presidential candidates and used influence operations to try to influence the American audience in the form of promoting political strife, as reported by Reuters.
”We see a trend that during this election process, the Iranian activity is getting more assertive,” an FBI Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency statement said.
Iran Allegedly Targets Trump and Harris Campaigns
The statement corroborated allegations made this month by the campaign of Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, that Iran hacked one of its sites, leading to an FBI investigation.
In many cases, Trump said that Iran was “only able to get publicly available information. ”
Iran, the U. S. statement said, also has targeted the campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris, who is to officially accept the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination at this week’s convention.
Iran Denies Interference in U.S. Election
This pertains specifically to the recent claims made against Iran: They are “unsubstantiated and devoid of any standing. As we have previously announced, the Islamic Republic of Iran harbors neither the intention nor the motive to interfere with the U.S. presidential election.”
The U. S statement was prompted by Iranians to conduct influence operations against the American public for the purpose of stoking political divisions and cyber operations against presidential campaigns.
“This includes the recently reported activities to compromise former President Trump’s campaign, which the IC (intelligence community) attributes to Iran,” it continued.
U.S. Intelligence Community Confirms Threat
It pointed out the intelligence community is certain that Iran’s agents, employing social engineering and other techniques, sought to reach out to those with direct access to the presidential campaigns of both the Republican and Democratic parties, as reported by Reuters.
Other acts mentioned in the statement involved thefts and disclosures aimed at the US election process, but no specific information was given.
