Washington DC [US], August 12: Donald Trump's campaign has said some of its internal communications have been hacked and suggested it was targeted by Iranian operatives.
US news website Politico reported on Saturday that it had been emailed campaign documents including internal research carried out on Trump's running mate, Ohio Senator JD Vance. "These documents were obtained illegally from foreign sources hostile to the United States, intended to interfere with the 2024 election," a campaign spokesman told the BBC.
Politico said it had confirmed the authenticity of the documents. The campaign did not give any further details or any evidence linking the document leak to Iranian hackers or the Iranian government.
Its statement came one day after Microsoft released a report indicating that Iranian hackers targeted the campaign of an unnamed US presidential candidate in June.
Microsoft's Threat Analysis Center (MTAC) said that the campaign was sent a spear phishing email - a message designed to look trustworthy in order to get the target to click on a malicious link. "Over the past several months, we have seen the emergence of significant influence activity by Iranian actors," the MTAC report said.
Trump campaign spokesperson, Steven Cheung said the June hacking attempt mentioned in the MTAC report "coincides with the close timing of President Trump's selection of a vice presidential nominee".
Source: Qatar Tribune
