On Friday, August 23, the social media platform Facebook’s parent company Meta released a statement claiming that a single Iranian hacker group targeted both the US two-party presidential campaign activities, attempting to attack the WhatsApp accounts of President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump’s government officials.
Meta stated that after receiving reports of suspicious WhatsApp messages from individuals, the company discovered this hacker network, with hackers posing as technical support personnel from companies like Microsoft, Yahoo, and Google.
During the investigation, Meta found that the hackers attempted to attack individual WhatsApp accounts in the Middle East, the United States, and the United Kingdom, as well as political and diplomatic officials, including those related to the Trump and Biden administrations.
Investigators linked these activities to previous reports of hacking attacks by the Trump campaign team. The company has already blocked “a small number” of accounts.
In a statement, Meta said, “We have not seen evidence of the target WhatsApp accounts being breached but out of an abundance of caution, we will not only share our findings with law enforcement and industry counterparts but also publicly share our findings.”
In May of this year, Meta released its latest quarterly threat report, stating that its security team had removed hundreds of Facebook accounts related to influence operations from Iran, China, and Russia, some of which used artificial intelligence tools to spread false information.
According to a report released by Google last Wednesday, since May, an Iranian hacker group associated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has been trying to infiltrate a dozen or so personal email accounts related to Biden and Trump. This report supplements another research report released by Microsoft a few days ago, which revealed that the Iran hacker group is suspected of conducting network intrusions related to this year’s US election.
Last Friday, the US artificial intelligence development firm OpenAI also stated that it had shut down a network of Iranian accounts, which attempted to use ChatGPT chatbots to create articles and social media comments to disrupt the US presidential election on social platforms.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) stated this week that Iran’s hacking attacks on the Trump campaign team and the unsuccessful intrusion into the Biden-Harris campaign team are part of a broader Iranian attempt to interfere in the US presidential election.
In July of this year, US National Intelligence Director Avril Haines confirmed that the Iranian government was clandestinely instigating protests against Israel in the US. She added that groups affiliated with Iran posed as online activists, encouraging campus protest activities, and providing financial support to some protest groups.
US intelligence officials stated that Iran is increasingly using cyber attacks and disinformation for several motives: to confuse and divide voters, to undermine confidence in American democracy; to weaken support for Israel; and to oppose candidates whom Iran perceives as damaging to its interests.
The Trump administration terminated the nuclear agreement with Iran, reimposed sanctions, and ordered the killing of Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani. Iran vowed to retaliate against Trump.
Trump’s campaign team stated last Saturday, August 10, that they were subjected to a hacking intrusion, sensitive internal documents were stolen and disseminated, implying Iran as the mastermind behind the scenes.