
Google has announced that hackers supported by Iran are actively targeting the campaigns of former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. The hacker group, known as “APT42,” which has ties to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, has been focusing on high-profile figures and organizations in Israel and the United States, including government officials and political campaigns, as detailed in a report released by Google.
The Harris campaign confirmed that it had been the target of foreign hackers, just days after Trump’s campaign hinted that it had also been hacked by Iranian operatives.
“In July, the campaign legal and security teams were notified by the FBI that we were targeted by a foreign actor influence operation,” a Harris campaign official informed AFP. “We have robust cybersecurity measures in place and are not aware of any security breaches of our systems resulting from those efforts.”
Google’s threat analysis team continues to observe ongoing but unsuccessful attempts by APT42 to breach the personal accounts of individuals connected to President Joe Biden, Harris, and Trump, according to the report. The hackers operate by gathering intelligence on their targets and crafting “phishing” schemes to deceive them into providing login information for accounts like Gmail.
The report outlined instances where the group pretended to be a think tank or another credible entity to lure victims into fake video meeting landing pages, requiring log-in credentials to participate.
Despite having access to an array of technical tools, some hackers prefer using “social engineering” techniques to manipulate individuals into clicking on malicious links or entering information on web pages that appear legitimate but are not.
Google revealed that it had thwarted APT42’s attempts to hack the Biden and Trump campaigns in 2020. In May and June of this year, the group targeted personal email accounts of about a dozen people linked to Biden or Trump, and Google successfully blocked numerous login attempts by APT42, the report stated.
Additionally, Google disclosed that the group had breached the personal Gmail account of a prominent political consultant, believed to be longtime Republican and Trump adviser Roger Stone.
“APT42 is a sophisticated, persistent threat actor and they show no signs of stopping their attempts to target users and deploy novel tactics,” Google stated. “This spring and summer, they have shown the ability to run numerous simultaneous phishing campaigns, particularly focused on Israel and the United States.”
Google urged individuals at high risk in connection with the upcoming election to stay alert and utilize enhanced security measures offered by the company.
On Monday, the State Department issued a warning to Iran about potential consequences for election interference, following the Trump campaign’s revelation that it had been hacked. The Trump campaign suggested that Iran was responsible for the breach, which led to private documents being leaked to the media, including vetting materials for running mate J.D. Vance. The campaign cautioned media outlets against publishing the documents, stating that doing so would be “doing the bidding of America’s enemies.”
{Matzav.com}