Published on: 25 August 2024 08:38 (EAT)
The logo of the Meta Platforms group of companies is seen in Brussels, Belgium, December 6, 2022. REUTERS/Yves Herman/File photo
Meta said Friday that it had identified possible hacks into the WhatsApp accounts of U.S. officials from President Joe Biden’s administration and former President Donald Trump, blaming the same Iranian hacker group that was identified as an attacker on the Trump campaign earlier this month.
In a blog post, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp described the attempt as a “small cluster of likely social engineering activity on WhatsApp” involving accounts posing as technical support from AOL, Google, Yahoo and Microsoft.
The company said it blocked the accounts after users reported the activity as suspicious and saw no evidence that the affected WhatsApp accounts had been compromised.
Meta attributed the activity to APT42, a hacking group believed to be linked to an intelligence branch of the Iranian military that is known for installing surveillance software on its victims’ mobile phones. The software allows the team to record calls, steal text messages and turn on cameras and microphones without being noticed, according to researchers tracking the group.
The group’s activities have been linked to attempts to penetrate U.S. presidential campaigns reported by Microsoft and Google earlier this month in the run-up to the U.S. presidential election in November.
The company’s blog post did not name the targets, saying only that the hackers “appear to have focused on political and diplomatic officials, business people, and other public figures, including some from the administrations of President Biden and former President Trump.”
These individuals are stationed in Israel, the Palestinian territories, Iran, the United States and the United Kingdom, it said.
Citizen TV
