Microsoft Says US Presidential Campaign Targeted by Iran-Backed Hackers; Trump Campaign Confirms Breach

The Trump campaign reported being hacked, and a Microsoft report identified an Iran-backed group targeting a high-ranking presidential campaign official.

According to Microsoft’s cyber threat assessment unit on Aug. 9, an Iran-backed group hacked a high-ranking official on a U.S. presidential campaign. The Trump campaign later confirmed they were the target of a cyber attack linked to “foreign sources hostile to the United States.”

The report from the Microsoft Threat Analysis Center (MTAC) revealed that an Iranian group known as Mint Sandstorm, affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, sent a spear phishing email in June to a high-ranking official on a presidential campaign using the compromised email account of a former senior campaign adviser.

MTAC mentioned that Mint Sandstorm had targeted another presidential campaign in May and June 2020, months before the previous U.S. presidential election. They also attempted to breach an account belonging to a former presidential candidate.

While the identity of the official was not disclosed, Microsoft’s threat assessment team noted that the Iranian-linked breaches were part of efforts to influence the upcoming U.S. presidential election in November.

Following the report’s release, the Trump 2024 presidential campaign acknowledged being the victim of a cyberattack that resulted in the theft of campaign documents.

The breach, attributed to “foreign sources hostile to the United States,” signifies a significant development in foreign interference in U.S. elections as the race for the White House intensifies.

The campaign spokesperson, Steven Cheung, referred to the Microsoft report, which revealed Iranian hackers infiltrated the account of a high-ranking official on the U.S. presidential campaign, as evidence of foreign involvement in the breach.

Cheung emphasized that the documents obtained illegally from foreign sources aimed to interfere with the election and disrupt the democratic process.

The timing of the breach was linked to reports of Iranian threats against Trump, who remains a target of Iranian hostility following the 2020 assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani.

U.S. intelligence officials recently stated that Iran has been actively sowing political discord in the U.S. using clandestine social media accounts. Iran denies such practices, claiming any actions against the U.S. are defensive and not involving cyber attacks.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) confirmed in a statement that Iranian groups targeted U.S. political campaigns, particularly Trump’s, to influence the election.

Microsoft’s report indicated the hackers’ activities extended to gathering intelligence on U.S. political campaigns, enabling Iranian groups to target swing states.

The report also mentioned a previous breach involving a county official in May as part of a “password spray operation,” where hackers use common or leaked passwords to access multiple accounts. No other accounts were compromised, and all targeted officials were informed of the cyber attack. Please rewrite this sentence.

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