Trump campaign hack highlights Iranian threat to US elections – Washington Examiner
The article discusses concerns raised by U.S. intelligence officials regarding foreign interference in the upcoming presidential election, following the announcement that former President Donald Trump’s campaign was hacked by Iranian actors. Representative Eric Swalwell, a key Democratic figure, has requested a briefing from the Department of Homeland Security on the incident, emphasizing the importance of preventing foreign interference regardless of political views. Rep. Adam Schiff also called for a swift release of information related to the hack. The Trump campaign confirmed the breach, which included leaked documents, and Microsoft highlighted attempts by Iranian groups using phishing tactics to target campaign officials. Experts noted vulnerabilities in the campaign’s email security which could have facilitated the hacking. The situation raises alarms about potential broader influence campaigns from Iran, particularly aimed at impacting voters in swing states.
Trump campaign hack highlights Iranian threat to US elections
Top U.S. intelligence experts and officials are worried hostile foreign actors are working to influence the presidential election after former President Donald Trump‘s campaign reported it was hacked by Iran.
Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) is the top Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee’s cybersecurity subcommittee and has requested a briefing from the Department of Homeland Security into the hacking debacle.
“I am seeking a @DHSgov briefing on the alleged hack of Trump’s presidential campaign. Yes, Trump is the most despicable person ever to seek office. He also sought foreign hacking in a past election. But that doesn’t mean America ever tolerates foreign interference,” he said Saturday on X.
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, joined Swalwell’s calls for further scrutiny.
“The intelligence community should move with great alacrity to declassify and disclose any appropriate information it has concerning the potential foreign nature of this interference,” Schiff said.
Trump’s campaign confirmed Saturday that it was hacked after a 271-page vetting document about Trump’s running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), from “Robert” was shared with Politico and the Washington Post. The campaign said it believed Trump was being targeted by the Iranians, pointing to a report from Microsoft that stated it notified a presidential campaign that a group affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps intelligence unit sent a spear phishing email to a high-ranking official on the campaign.
While the two outlets swiftly shared the information they received from the alleged Iranian hacker with the Trump campaign, the founding head of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is worried that Iran could target less reputable media sites in an effort to derail the 2024 presidential election.
“‘Pink slime’ and fake sites are in their repertoire, so it’s possible that information gets posted in other fora if U.S. media outlets hold back,” Chris Krebs told the Washington Post. “It’s possible they do both.”
Email security experts told the outlet they believed the Trump campaign staffers’ email accounts were vulnerable to cyberattacks. Publicly available email exchange records lacked DMARC, a security system that would make sure an email sender with a Trump campaign address was a verified staffer, according to the experts.
During the 2020 election, the U.S. government charged two Iranian nationals with engaging in voter intimidation and election interference as they tried to undermine the Trump campaign. Last month, government authorities reported intelligence that Iran was plotting to assassinate Trump.
The hack into Trump’s campaign last week came the day after Microsoft warned Iran is working to “sway voters” in swing states.
“One of the sites, called Nio Thinker, caters to left-leaning audiences and insults former president Donald Trump, calling him an ‘opioid-pilled elephant in the MAGA china shop’ and a ‘raving mad litigiosaur,’” Clint Watts, general manager of the Microsoft Threat Analysis Center, wrote in the report.
The Microsoft report said Iran has “laid the groundwork for influence campaigns on trending election-related topics and begun to activate these campaigns in an apparent effort to stir up controversy or sway voters—especially in swing states.”
Krebs worried about “foreign sources” going “after election systems” in a post to X.
“Someone is running the 2016 playbook, expect continued efforts to stoke fires in society and go after election systems — 95% votes on paper ballots is a strong resilience measure, combined with audits,” he said Saturday. “But the chaos is the point … .”
Rich Goldberg, a former Trump National Security Council official, was quick to add his concerns about Iran infiltrating the Trump campaign.
“The regime is already trying to assassinate Trump and former senior members of his administration, so I don’t think anyone should be surprised it would hack the campaign to try to influence the election,” Goldberg told the Wall Street Journal. He now works at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington think tank.
The Washington Examiner reached out to the FBI and the Trump campaign, as well as Swalwell and Schiff’s offices, for comment.
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