September 27, 2024 at 05:51PM
Three Iranians have been charged by the US Department of Justice for their involvement in a wide-ranging hacking campaign, including stealing and leaking materials from Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign. The indictment accuses the individuals of wire fraud, identity theft, and targeting US government officials and media members. The FBI has highlighted Iran’s brazen behavior.
The US Department of Justice has charged three Iranians, Masoud Jalili, Seyyed Ali Aghamiri, and Yasar Balaghi, who are members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), for their involvement in a wide-ranging hacking campaign. The indictment accuses them of wire fraud, identity theft, conspiracy to provide material support to a terrorist organization, and conspiracy to compromise computer systems. They allegedly used spear phishing and social engineering techniques to target and compromise the accounts of current and former US government officials, members of the media, non-governmental organizations, and individuals associated with US political campaigns.
The trio gained unauthorized access to a US presidential campaign’s personal inboxes and stole non-public campaign documents and emails, which they leaked to media organizations and the Biden campaign. The stolen documents included debate preparation materials, materials regarding the potential vice-presidential candidates, and email communications with a former State Department official. The indictment also indicates that the recently leaked JD Vance dossier was part of the stolen goods offered to various journalists.
The Iranians’ actions prompted the FBI to charge the individuals and take additional measures, including the State Department offering a $10 million reward for information about the three Iranian men and the Treasury Department imposing new sanctions targeting seven individuals linked to the hacking effort.
FBI Director Christopher Wray emphasized that the charges and indictment are a result of a thorough and long-running FBI investigation and demonstrate the culmination of Iran’s brazen behavior. The FBI’s message to the government of Iran is that the hackers cannot hide behind their keyboards.
In addition, it is evident that social networks, such as Elon Musk’s Twitter, have taken action to block links to the leaked materials and suspend the accounts of journalists involved.
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