Iranian Hackers Offered Stolen Trump Campaign Data to Biden’s Team, Say US Authorities

US intelligence and law enforcement agencies have accused Iranian cyberattackers of attempting to interfere in the 2024 presidential election by offering stolen information from Donald Trump’s campaign to Joe Biden’s team.

The hackers allegedly sent unsolicited emails containing excerpts of stolen, non-public material from Trump’s campaign to individuals linked to Biden’s staff.

At the time of the cyberattack, Biden was the Democratic presidential nominee but later stepped aside in July, endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris.

According to a joint statement from the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the FBI, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, none of Biden’s campaign members responded to the emails sent by the hackers.

US authorities first attributed the hack to Iran in August, accusing the country of attempting to influence the 2024 election, a charge that Iran has denied. The agencies said the Iranian hackers also tried to distribute the stolen information to various US media outlets but did not specify which ones.

In response, the Iranian mission to the United Nations strongly rejected the accusations, stating, “Iran neither has any motive nor intent to interfere in the US election; and, it therefore categorically repudiates such accusations.”

The upcoming US presidential election is set for November 5, and both Trump and Harris’s campaigns have reported being targeted by recent cyberattacks. Trump’s campaign team described the plot as evidence of Iranian interference aimed at aiding the Harris-Biden ticket.

This incident draws parallels to the 2016 election, when Russian hackers were accused of breaching the Democratic National Committee’s emails, revealing internal party discussions, including those about Hillary Clinton.

Trump, who won the 2016 election, faced criticism at the time for encouraging the hack.

On August 13, Harris’s campaign also disclosed that foreign hackers had targeted it but did not specify which nation was responsible. Both campaigns continue to brace for future cyber threats as the election approaches.