Following inquiries from news agencies about an internal vetting document on vice-presidential candidate JD Vance that had been leaked to the press, the Trump campaign issued their statement.
The 271-page document labeled as “privileged & confidential” was sent to The Washington Post on Thursday by an anonymous AOL user named “Robert.” Politico, who first reported on the Trump campaign’s declaration, stated they have been receiving documents, including vetting materials on Vance, from a sender using the alias “Robert” since July 22.
The Trump campaign referenced a report published by Microsoft on Friday, revealing evidence that Iranian hackers had attempted to access the email account of a “high-ranking official” within a U.S. presidential campaign in June, coinciding with Vance’s selection as Donald Trump‘s running mate.
Although the company did not disclose the campaign’s identity, a source familiar with Microsoft’s investigation confirmed it was related to the Trump campaign.
While U.S. officials have not validated the claim of campaign breach, no supportive evidence or Iranian connection was provided by the campaign.
Representative Eric Swalwell (California), a key Democratic figure on the cybersecurity subcommittee of the House Homeland Security Committee, expressed his intent to request a briefing from the Department of Homeland Security.
“Yes, Trump is the most contemptible individual to ever run for office. He has even solicited foreign hacking in a previous election. Nonetheless, America does not condone external interference,” he tweeted on X.
Representative Adam Schiff (D-California), former chair of the House Intelligence Committee, urged authorities to promptly declassify any data concerning the potential foreign origin of the reported hack by the campaign.
“In 2016, the Intelligence Community was too sluggish in identifying the hacking and dissemination efforts led by Russia to sow discord among Americans and support the Trump campaign,” he shared on X. “The Intelligence Community has made improvements since then, but must act swiftly in this case.”
He urged both sides to denounce the alleged breach. “Back in 2016, the Trump campaign openly embraced Russian intervention, capitalized on it, and then tried to disavow it, greatly harming the nation,” he remarked.
No response has been given by the Harris-Walz campaign after numerous requests for a comment.
Starting from 2016, Democratic campaigns and related entities have focused on enhancing security measures and have heavily invested in fortifying systems to protect against breaches and other cyber threats.
Trump, the nominee for president from the Republican party, shared on his Truth Social media platform that his campaign was alerted by Microsoft about one of its websites being compromised by the Iranian government. He also asserted that only publicly accessible data was taken.
“We were notified by Microsoft Corporation that one of our numerous websites was hacked by the Iranian Government — Not a pleasant situation!” he wrote on the platform late Saturday.
“They were only able to access publicly available data, but regardless, such actions should not be tolerated. Iran and others will not hesitate, as our Government is perceived as feeble and inefficient, but this will not persist for long.”
According to Microsoft and various security firms, an Iranian faction behind the attack in June on a presidential campaign is operated by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Though Microsoft did not confirm the Trump campaign as the target, the tech giant mentioned on Friday that Iranian hackers gained control of a former adviser’s email account and sent a phishing email with a malicious link to a current official within the campaign.
The Iranian hacking group employed the same strategy in 2021 against the press secretary of a U.S. official, as per email security provider Proofpoint. Nevertheless, the group possesses custom malware that could be utilized in more discreet attacks.
Joshua Miller, a researcher from Proofpoint, mentioned that the Iranian group is actively targeting politicians and campaign personnel in the United States. He stated that multiple Iranian factions impersonate journalists to approach their targets.
The Post received an internal campaign assessment of Vance’s potential political weaknesses dated Feb. 23, prepared by the law firm Brand Woodward. Despite being compiled from public information and news snippets, the vetting report itself was an internal document not previously disclosed.
A spokesperson for the National Security Council emphasized on Saturday that the Biden administration “vigorously denounces any foreign government or entity that tries to meddle in our electoral process or aims to undermine trust in our democratic institutions.”
The FBI mentioned in a statement on Saturday that the organization was informed about the media reports and had no statement to make.
The information about the breach came out during Def Con, the yearly hacking and security meeting that attracts tens of thousands to Las Vegas in the summertime.
A lot of the attendees interviewed expressed apprehension about what might be coming.
They hypothesized that if Iranian hackers were involved, they might have acquired more files than what news outlets have stated, with intentions to release other material to popular or less trustworthy news platforms, including the increasing number primarily consisting of copied content from other sources.
“‘Pink slime’ and counterfeit sites are part of their range, hence there’s a chance that details will be published in other forums if U.S. media withhold information,” Chris Krebs, the founding director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, who dealt with disinformation regarding the 2020 election, expressed in an interview with The Post. “They might engage in both activities.”
Previously, Krebs penned a post on X speculating that actors might be attempting to replicate what transpired during the 2016 campaign, when U.S. intelligence confirmed that Russia meddled in the election by hacking and leaking internal Democratic documents. “Someone is following the 2016 strategy, brace for ongoing attempts to fuel tensions in society and target election systems — having 95% votes via paper ballots is a strong security measure, supplemented by audits. But the turmoil is the objective,” he stated.
Certain experts in email security stated that publicly accessible email communication records suggest that the campaign staff’s email accounts were not well secured. As an indication, they had not activated a common system known as DMARC, which would verify that an email sender from a Trump address was genuinely part of the campaign.
The Trump campaign did not promptly reply to a request for commentary regarding its email security.
Although Iranian cyber activities have become more advanced and aggressive since the 2020 election cycle, former U.S. officials mentioned they are still inferior to those of Russia, which may have already breached one or more campaigns.
Most professionals anticipate more breaches and disclosures as the election approaches, with the significant uncertainty being how the public and media respond to minor revelations.
“Regrettably, this is not the ‘new normal.’ It’s just the norm,” Jake Braun, who recently departed from the White House after serving as the acting principal deputy national cyber director, remarked.
Several recent governmental and industrial reports have highlighted increased propaganda about the election from Russia and Iran, and platforms used to promote political views can also distribute data from breaches.
Josh Dawsey, Isaac Arnsdorf, Devlin Barrett and Tyler Pager contributed to this report.
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