US charges three Iranians with hacking Trump campaign

Recently, the United States has charged three individuals from Iran for their involvement in hacking Donald Trump's presidential campaign. The accused, identified as Masoud Jalili, Seyyed Ali Aghamiri, and Yasar Balaghi, are believed to be affiliated with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Prosecutors allege that these individuals participated in a 'hack and leak' operation aimed at undermining Trump's campaign during the election period. Just last week, U. S. officials reported that Iranian hackers attempted to distribute stolen materials from Trump's campaign to individuals associated with Joe Biden's re-election efforts. The trio faces a total of 18 charges, which include serious offenses such as wire fraud, identity theft, and providing material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, in addition to various hacking-related charges. Back in August, the Trump campaign publicly denied any involvement in the hacking incident. However, shortly thereafter, the Federal Bureau of Investigation confirmed that Iran was indeed responsible for infiltrating Trump's campaign. In a joint statement with other U. S. intelligence agencies, the FBI warned that Iran was actively trying to 'stoke discord and undermine confidence in our democratic institutions. ' They also noted an increase in aggressive Iranian activities during this election cycle. The indictment, which spans 37 pages, details a hacking campaign that has been ongoing for several years, targeting U. S. government officials, the media, and individuals linked to political campaigns, starting in 2020. According to the Department of Justice, in May 2024, the three accused hackers began focusing on a specific presidential campaign, referred to as 'US Presidential campaign 1. ' They allegedly stole documents and communications by creating fake email accounts that impersonated U. S. government officials and used phishing tactics to gain access to personal email accounts of campaign staff. By June, they reportedly sought to 'weaponize' the stolen information by attempting to leak it to the media and individuals associated with another campaign, referred to as 'US Presidential campaign 2. ' When asked during a press conference whether the Biden campaign had ever utilized the hacked materials, Attorney General Merrick Garland stated, 'we’ve seen no indication that anyone replied. ' He further added that the FBI had received 'good cooperation' from both the Trump and Biden campaigns, the latter of which is now led by Vice-President Kamala Harris. The Harris campaign confirmed their cooperation with law enforcement agencies, stating, 'We’re not aware of any material being sent directly to the campaign; a few individuals were targeted on their personal emails with what looked like a spam or phishing attempt,' according to Morgan Finkelstein, the national security spokeswoman for the Harris campaign. The BBC has reached out to both the Trump campaign and Iran's mission to the United Nations for comments regarding the case. The indictment reveals that two email accounts linked to a 'former, informal political consultant to the Trump campaign' were compromised, along with an unnamed official and an attorney representing the campaign. FBI Director Christopher Wray emphasized that the FBI aims to send a clear message to the Iranian government, stating, 'you and your hackers can’t hide behind your keyboards. ' He noted that the charges reflect the culmination of a thorough and extensive FBI investigation. Among the documents that Iran is believed to have obtained from the Trump campaign is a dossier containing research on vice-presidential nominee JD Vance. This dossier, along with other documents, was sent to several major U. S. news outlets but did not gain widespread attention until journalist Ken Klippenstein, who previously worked for the investigative outlet The Intercept, published the Vance material on his blog. Klippenstein mentioned that someone named 'Robert' had offered him the dossier, but he was quickly banned from X, formerly known as Twitter, for violating rules against revealing personal information.