Information
On Monday, US security agencies, including the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, accused Iran of launching cyberattacks against the presidential campaigns of Donald Trump and Kamala Harris in the lead-up to the 2024 election. The agencies reported that Iranian activities were increasingly aggressive and involved cyber operations aimed at accessing individuals closely connected to both major presidential campaigns through social engineering and other tactics. The specific details of how the Iranian involvement was confirmed or what information might have been stolen from the Trump campaign were not disclosed.
In response, Iran’s mission to the United Nations rejected the allegations as “unsubstantiated and devoid of any standing,” demanding that the US provide concrete evidence or face a response. Earlier in the month, Trump’s campaign had already suggested that it was targeted by hackers, attributing the breach to “foreign sources” and implying possible Iranian involvement. Similarly, the Harris campaign reported being targeted by foreign hackers but did not specify the country responsible.
Source: AFP, AP, Reuters
So what
While calling Iran out publicly is a good first step, it will be interesting to see if the US makes any further moves against Iran, particularly at a time of such high tensions. It is highly unlikely that the US will confirm how they have confirmed that Iran is behind these attacks, which will likely lead to Iran’s denial, creating the classic stand-off. It seems more likely that the US will leave this as simply calling them out, in hopes this puts them off further cyber-attacks.
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