Trump campaign says it was hacked, blames Iran
Reuters-Aug10th2024
By Kanishka Singh and Nathan Layne
WASHINGTON, Aug 10 (Reuters) – The campaign of Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump said on Saturday some of its internal communications were hacked and blamed the Iranian government, citing past hostilities between Trump and Iran without providing direct evidence.
The campaign statement came shortly after news website Politico revealed it began receiving emails in July from an anonymous source offering authentic documents from inside Trump’s operation, including a report about running mate JD Vance’s “potential vulnerabilities.”
“These documents were obtained illegally from foreign sources hostile to the United States, intended to interfere with the 2024 election and sow chaos throughout our Democratic process,” Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said in a statement.
Reuters has not independently verified the identity of the alleged hackers or their motivation.
The Trump campaign referred to a Friday report from Microsoft (MSFT.O), opens new tab researchers that said Iranian government-tied hackers tried breaking into the account of a “high-ranking official” on a U.S. presidential campaign in June. The hackers had taken over an account belonging to a former political advisor and then used it to target the official, the report said. That report did not provide further details on the targets’ identities.
A Microsoft spokesperson declined to name the targeted officials or provide additional details after the report was published.
Iran’s foreign ministry and its United Nations representative did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
On Friday, in response to Microsoft’s findings, Iran’s mission to the U.N. in New York told Reuters that its cyber capabilities were “defensive and proportionate to the threats it faces” and that it had no plans to launch cyberattacks.
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