US intelligence confirms that Iran hacked Trump's campaign

2024-08-20 09:25:38, Kosova & Bota CNA

US intelligence confirms that Iran hacked Trump's campaign

The former American president, Donald Trump, who aims for another term at the head of the White House. Source, AFP

Iran was behind recent attempts to hack Donald Trump's presidential campaign, US intelligence officials have confirmed.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and other federal agencies have said in a joint statement that Iran has decided to interfere in the US election "to foment division and undermine confidence in our democratic institutions."

The Trump campaign pointed the finger at Iran on August 10 for the hacking of internal messages.

Iranian officials have denied the allegations.

Sources close to the investigation have told CBS News that they suspect the suspected Iranian hackers also targeted the campaign of Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris.

"The intelligence community is convinced that the Iranians have made efforts to gain access to individuals associated with the presidential campaign in both political parties," US intelligence officials said in a statement.

"Such activity, including the theft and release of documents, is intended to assist in the US election process."

The hack on the Trump campaign was carried out by sending people an email - with a message that appeared to be credible, to get them to click on a fake link.

Harris' campaign said last week that it had been the target of such an attack, although the attempts were unsuccessful.

American agencies have said that these tactics "are not new" and have mentioned that Russia and Iran have used these methods in the past presidential elections.

It remains unclear what information may have been stolen during the hack.

Trump has said that the hackers managed to secure only public information.

According to the giant Google, even the campaign of the current president, Joe Biden, was targeted by Iranian hackers, before he withdrew from the race./ REL