The campaigns of President Trump and his Democratic rival Joe Biden have been targeted by Iranian and Chinese hackers, according to Google.
An Iranian group, known as APT 35, attacked Trump campaign staff through phishing attacks, according to Shane Huntley, director for Google’s Threat Analysis Group. He said a China-based group, known as APT 31, similarly attacked the Biden campaign.
There has been no sign that either campaign was compromised, Huntley stressed. Both campaigns have been alerted to the hacking attempts. Federal authorities were also notified.
“We can confirm that our Threat Analysis Group recently saw phishing attempts from a Chinese group targeting the personal email accounts of Biden campaign staff and an Iranian group targeting the personal email accounts of Trump campaign staff. We didn’t see evidence that these attempts were successful,” a Google spokesperson told the Washington Examiner.
Biden’s campaign said it has been preparing for cyberattacks from foreign actors.
“We are aware of reports from Google that a foreign actor has made unsuccessful attempts to access the personal email accounts of campaign staff. We have known from the beginning of our campaign that we would be subject to such attacks, and we are prepared for them. Biden for President takes cybersecurity seriously. We will remain vigilant against these threats and will ensure that the campaign’s assets are secured,” Biden’s campaign said in a statement to the Washington Examiner.
A Trump campaign official told the Washington Examiner that the campaign has been “briefed that foreign actors unsuccessfully attempted to breach the technology of our staff.”
“We are vigilant about cybersecurity and do not discuss any of our precautions,” the official added.
Iranian hackers have previously targeted Trump’s reelection campaign. Microsoft warned of the cyberattacks last year, around the same time the Trump administration announced additional sanctions against Iran. Microsoft did not disclose which campaign had been targeted, but news reports said it was Trump’s campaign.
