The US officials have said that the Iranian regime tried to launch a cyber-attack on former President Trump’s campaign. The press release made on the 19th of August and which involved the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the FBI, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency showed that Iran has targeted people directly associated with the presidential campaigns of either the Democrats or the Republicans and using social engineering and other methodologies.
HIGH TARGETS
A well-known Iranian cyberattack group, APT42, or Charming Kitten, hacked the campaign of a then-Republican candidate for president, Donald Trump. This gang is associated with malware that allows them control of the owner’s mobile phone. therefore, facilitating the monitoring and recording of calls, call interception, and call forwarding. They also trigger other concealed cameras, including microphones. All these hackers have been credited to the Intelligence Organization of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC-IO) which is recognized as the intelligence arm of Iran’s military.
“What distinguishes APT42 is even more serious: John Hultquist, the Chief Analyst at the U. S-based cybersecurity firm. He cited previous works showing that the said group had been ‘‘eavesdropping on the activists and protesters in Iran through their cell phones.’’ Many of the targets of these hacks were either arrested or threatened at gunpoint upon their return to Iran.
That is true; the officials of the former president of the USA, Donald Trump, and a current contender of the Republicans, have argued that Iran seeks to assassinate him, Trump because of his uncompromising stance against Tehran. Harris’s campaign also stated that they experienced a spear phishing attack which were all unsuccessful.
This has not, however, prevented the experts from thinking that the APT42 group that perpetrated these attacks is still a formidable one even though it has never been mentioned by name in a U. S law enforcement indictment or criminal charges. Though having quite an uncertain nature and somewhat ambiguous classification, the intensity and participation canoes that they represent are a shepherd of great threat.
Hacking Scandal: Iran’s Aggressive Hacking Campaign Revealed by BIG TECH
Google has said this month that it had found the main hackers associated with Iran. It had been following the presidential campaigns. The Iran-based Advanced Persistent Threat namely APT 42 has operationally focused on entities and persons connected to Israel and the United States, including government employees and some political campaigns.
In addition, Meta, the owner of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp said that Iranian hackers posing as ‘tech support’ targeted individuals connected with Joe Biden’s administration and the ex-president, Donald Trump.
However, it should not be forgotten that this event along with other indications points to Iran’s desire to interfere in the 2024 presidential elections in the USA. Meta also said in its statement on 22 August that the company had identified and suspended several WhatsApp accounts associated with IRGC hackers. Earlier this month, Microsoft and Google stated that the same team attempted email phishing attacks in connection with people close to Trump, Biden, and the new Vice President Kamala Harris.
Iran has simply dismissed its participation in hacking terming the accusations as unfounded and devoid of merits.
Tehran responded in a statement saying: “The Islamic Republic of Iran entertains no such intention and possesses no such motive to meddle into the U. S. presidential election.” “Should the U. S. government for instance sincerely believe its line of argument then it should provide us with the required documents if any about which we shall offer our response.”
TRANSFORMING ELECTION INTERRUPTION
The Russian interventions during the 2016 election campaign have shown that the United States is once again susceptible to the prospect of foreign players interfering in its elections. To sway the election in favor of Trump and against Clinton in 2016, hacking, fake news, and the manipulation of social media accounts were all involved. Let’s fast-forward to the 2024 election. Iran is already engaging in similar tactics, including phishing attempts, posing as tech assistance, and targeting prominent politicians associated with both Joe Biden and former US President Donald Trump. These parallels also highlight the fact that foreign meddling in US elections has been steadily evolving and continues to pose a major threat to the nation’s democracy, which proves the necessity of enhancing the cybersecurity platform.
