Meta, the parent company of Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp, has issued a warning to members of Donald Trump’s and Kamala Harris’s campaigns following detected attempts by hackers linked to the Iranian regime to breach the WhatsApp accounts of current and former US officials.
This alert comes on the heels of similar warnings from tech giants Google and Microsoft, urging members of both Republican and Democratic election campaigns to exercise heightened caution in protecting their personal internet accounts against Iranian cyber threats.
Meta reports that Iranian regime hackers have been sending deceptive messages to the WhatsApp accounts of several American officials. These messages masquerade as communications from Google, Yahoo, or Microsoft, aiming to trick recipients into clicking malicious links that could grant hackers access to their mobile devices.
The company identified this hacker group as the same entity accused of launching a cyberattack on Donald Trump’s campaign last month. Meta stated that the malicious activity originated from Iran and had attempted to target individuals in Israel, Palestine, Iran, the United States, and the United Kingdom.
The hacking efforts appear to focus on political officials and other public figures, including members of US President Joe Biden’s administration and former US President Donald Trump. Meta has since blocked all accounts associated with these hackers, who were attempting to “social engineer” and deceive targets to access their networks or critical data.
Meta’s statement continued, indicating that due to the escalation of these types of threats ahead of the US election, they had shared information about the malicious activity with law enforcement and presidential campaigns to encourage heightened vigilance against targeting adversaries.
On Monday of the previous week, three US intelligence and security organizations attributed these recent hacks to the Iranian regime. The statement corroborated the Trump campaign’s earlier claim of a hack that released internal communications documents and a dossier on JD Vance, Donald Trump’s deputy. Kamala Harris’s campaign also reported being targeted by foreign hackers on August 13, though the specific country behind those attacks was not identified.
In a related development, OpenAI, a prominent artificial intelligence company, announced last week that it had deactivated a series of ChatGPT accounts being used by Iran for covert infiltration operations. These accounts were reportedly using ChatGPT’s AI to generate articles and short comments for dissemination on social networks and websites.
The main focus areas of Iranian-linked hackers in recent months have included the conflicts in Gaza, the presence of Israeli athletes in the Olympic Games, and the US presidential elections. OpenAI noted that these hackers often mix their political content with news about fashion and beauty, possibly to enhance credibility or attract a broader audience.
Earlier this year, US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines warned that Iran regime’s influence efforts have become increasingly aggressive, aiming to sow discord and undermine democratic institutions in the United States, continuing a pattern observed in previous election cycles.
