Iranian hackers targeted individuals associated with Joe Biden's presidential campaign by sending unsolicited emails containing stolen information from Donald Trump's campaign, as revealed by federal law enforcement officials. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the FBI, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency issued a joint statement disclosing that in late June and early July, Iranian cyber actors sent emails with excerpts from non-public material taken from Trump's campaign to Biden's campaign affiliates.
The statement clarified that there was no evidence of any response from Biden's staff to these emails. The hackers, allegedly backed by the Iranian government, had previously stolen internal documents from the Trump campaign and shared them with media outlets. Despite these actions being exposed, the hackers continued their attempts to disseminate information to US media.
According to law enforcement officials, the Iranian government's objective behind these cyber activities is to sow discord and undermine confidence in the US electoral process. This incident is part of a series of efforts by Iran, including an unsuccessful hacking attempt on the Biden-Harris campaign.
The hackers gained access to the email account of Roger Stone, a close ally of Trump, in June. It is believed that the hackers, affiliated with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, used Stone's account to target Trump campaign staff. Investigators suspect that the hackers aimed to breach the account of a senior campaign official through this method, indicating a persistent effort to infiltrate campaign networks.
