U.S. intelligence agencies released a statement on Monday acknowledging Iran’s involvement in attempts to hack email accounts belonging to the election staff of President Joe Biden and President Donald Trump. The hackers, who obtained information from the Trump campaign, tried to release some of the information through media outlets such as Politico, but were unable to get the contents of the emails to be made public. The Biden campaign was not breached, but details are still unclear as to why Iran failed in its attempt.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) have all Joint Statement Regarding the hacking attempts, he said Iran “seeks to sow discord and undermine faith in democratic institutions” and has a “long-standing interest in exploiting social tensions in the United States.”
“We have observed increasingly aggressive Iranian activity during this election, particularly influence operations aimed at American citizens and cyber activity targeting the presidential campaign,” the statement said.
The Trump campaign previously Iranian HackersThe attack was launched in a bid to influence the US electoral process, but details are still unclear.
Iran is widely believed to have sought to damage former President Trump’s election campaign in retaliation for the assassination of top Iranian Revolutionary Guard commander Qassem Soleimani in a drone strike at Baghdad International Airport in Iraq. Trump repeatedly antagonized Iran during his four years in office, including abandoning a peace deal in 2018 that ultimately allowed Iran to continue its nuclear weapons program. Although Iran does not currently possess nuclear weapons, U.S. media reports have routinely portrayed the country as if it were on the brink of developing a nuclear weapon.
The FBI is playing a lead role in responding to the hacking attack and is continuing to collect data, according to the statement.
“We will not tolerate foreign attempts to influence or interfere in our elections, including the targeting of U.S. political campaigns,” the agencies said Monday. “As an interagency coalition, we work closely with our public and private sector partners to share information, strengthen security, and identify and disrupt any threats.”
In their statements, they urged all Americans to use strong passwords and only use official email accounts for government business, and the agencies also stressed the importance of continually updating software and avoiding clicking on links or attachments in suspicious emails.