Three Iranian hackers charged in hack-and-leak election interference campaign

Three Iranian hackers charged in hack-and-leak election interference campaign

The U.S. Department of Justice has charged three members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps for their alleged roles in a political campaign.

Three Iranian nationals were indicted last week for their alleged roles in a hack-and-leak campaign targeting U.S. officials, journalists and — more broadly — the upcoming presidential election.

Masoud Jalili, Seyyed Ali Aghamiri and Yaser Balaghi – all in their 30s and serving in Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps – were formally charged by the US Department of Justice on September 27.

According to the DOJ, all three were involved in long-standing cyber operations against American targets and had compromised the accounts of several former government officials. However, the DOJ now believes that the three used an already established infrastructure to target campaign officials associated with an unnamed campaign – likely in reference to former President Donald Trump's re-election campaign, which claimed in August of being the victim of an Iranian hacking campaign.

The DOJ alleges the Iranian hackers used access to these compromised accounts to access campaign documents and emails in May 2024 and then began sharing the stolen information in June to media outlets and Trump's opponents in the then-Biden/Harris campaign to pass on.

U.S. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said the Justice Department is working “tirelessly” to counter Iranian influence operations.

“The American people — not Iran or any other foreign power — will decide the outcome of our country’s elections,” Garland said in a statement.

FBI Director Christopher Wray said the charges were the result of a long-term investigation.

“The conduct outlined in the indictment is just the latest example of Iran’s brazen behavior. “That’s why the FBI wants to send a message to the Iranian government today: You and your hackers cannot hide behind your keyboards,” Wray said.

US political news portal Politico said it obtained internal Trump campaign documents sent from an anonymous email account in August. Shortly afterward, a Trump campaign spokesman cited a Microsoft report that Iranian hackers were involved in election interference.

“These documents were illegally obtained from foreign sources hostile to the United States with the intent to disrupt the 2024 election and sow chaos in our democratic process,” Steven Cheung, a Trump campaign spokesman, responded on March 10 August on the leaks.

“On Friday, a new report from Microsoft found that Iranian hackers penetrated the account of a 'high-ranking official' in the June 2024 US presidential campaign, coinciding with the close timing of President Trump's selection of a vice presidential candidate. ”