Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's campaign is claiming that it was hacked by Iran, but it is not yet certain whether the hack actually occurred or if Iran was behind it, Vox reported. The Trump campaign has not provided any conclusive evidence for its claims, and the FBI is still looking into the matter.
But certainly – according to the report writer Ellen Ioannis- Iran is trying to influence the elections, with the Revolutionary Guards creating fake news sites that spread inflammatory information, including news about Israel, Hamas, and the presidential candidates.
There are also Chinese and Russian attempts to influence the US elections, according to the writer. A Microsoft report indicates that Chinese efforts include programs that use social media to spark discussions about sensitive issues such as the protests that rocked American universities in support of Gaza, while Russian efforts focus largely on spreading misleading information about Ukraine and its relationship with US intelligence agencies.
According to the writer, the story of Trump’s allegations began on Friday, when Microsoft announced that it had arrested hacker groups run by the Revolutionary Guard. The company said that in June, the groups sent a phishing email from the account of a former senior adviser to a senior official in a presidential campaign, in an attempt to extract information from him. Microsoft did not identify the campaign or clarify whether the attempt was successful.
The data phishing method, known as “spear phishing,” aims to target a specific group of people with the aim of hacking their data. It involves sending messages containing malicious links. When the recipient clicks on the link, malware is downloaded onto their device, allowing hackers to access information stored on that device.
Microsoft also found that the Revolutionary Guard used groups — called Cotton Sandstorm, Lemon Sandstorm, Mint Sandstorm, and Peach Sandstorm — to run a large-scale hacking campaign during the past election years.
Following Friday's announcement, Politico received Saturday An email containing detailed documents about the Trump campaign from an anonymous source, including draft profiles of potential vice presidential candidates, including the one chosen by a member of the Congress About Ohio JD VanceThen the New York Times received a similar message on Sunday.
andThe Trump campaign released Night Saturday A statement claiming that “foreign sources hostile to the United States” had stolen documents from it, Trump wrote at the same time on his platform “Truth Social” that Microsoft had confirmed that Iran had hacked one of his campaign websites, and accused it of being behind the theft of the documents based on Microsoft’s report, and the FBI announced on Monday that it had opened an investigation into Trump’s claims.
If Mint Sandstorm was behind the campaign hack attempt, and if it sent the leaked documents to newspapers, it would be evidence of Iran’s intent to sway voters against Trump, whose policies toward Iran are considered more stringent than those of the ruling Democratic Party. During his previous presidency, Trump oversaw the cancellation of the nuclear agreement with Iran in 2015 and the assassination of Iranian Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani, the writer said.