(RightIsRight.co) – America is under siege, as Google confirmed that terrorist hackers targeted the campaigns of presidential nominees Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris.
The hacker group, known as “APT42,” is linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
According to a threat report from Google, hackers have been attacking high-profile individuals and organizations in both Israel and the U.S., including government officials and political campaigns.
Harris’ campaign acknowledged that it had been a target of foreign hackers just days after Trump’s campaign suggested Iran might be behind a recent hack.
“In July, the campaign legal and security teams were notified by the FBI that we were targeted by a foreign actor influence operation,” a Harris campaign official stated.
They continued, “We have robust cybersecurity measures in place and are not aware of any security breaches of our systems resulting from those efforts.”
Google’s threat analysis group has continued to see APT42 making attempts to compromise the personal accounts of individuals linked to Joe Biden, Harris, and Trump.
Moreover, the hacking group uses various tactics, including “phishing” to trick victims into revealing their login information. They often pose as credible contacts or organizations to lure targets to fake video meeting pages where login details are requested.
While some hackers rely on technical tools, others use “social engineering” methods to deceive people into clicking on malicious links or logging into fake websites that look real.
Google also reported that it had disrupted APT42’s attempts to hack Biden and Trump’s campaigns back in 2020.
In May and June of this year, the group targeted the personal email accounts of about a dozen people affiliated with Biden and Trump, but Google blocked numerous attempts by APT42 to access these accounts.
Google claimed, “APT42 is a sophisticated, persistent threat actor and they show no signs of stopping their attempts to target users and deploy novel tactics.”
“This spring and summer, they have shown the ability to run numerous simultaneous phishing campaigns, particularly focused on Israel and the United States,” the company added.
This week, the State Department warned Iran about potential consequences for election interference after the Trump campaign revealed a recent hack.
The Trump campaign suggested that Iran was behind the breach, which led to private documents being leaked to reporters, including research on running mate J.D. Vance.
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