CNN
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The FBI and other investigators investigating the apparent hacking and release of Trump campaign documents, for which Donald Trump blames Iran, suspect that the hackers managed to compromise the personal email account of longtime Republican and Trump official Roger Stone, several sources familiar with the matter told CNN.
The hackers used access to Stone’s email account to break into the account of a senior Trump campaign official as part of a persistent effort to penetrate campaign networks, one of the sources said. The hack, which occurred in June, sparked a scramble within Trump’s campaign team, the FBI and Microsoft, which noticed the intrusions, to contain the incident and determine whether there was a broader cyber threat from Iran.
Stone was notified by Microsoft and the FBI that his personal email address had been compromised by a “foreign state actor” with the intention of using the account to phish Trump campaign staff into opening a link that would give the perpetrators access to that person’s computer, one of the sources familiar with the affair said.
The Washington Post was the first to report that Stone’s account had been attacked. The Trump campaign team declined to comment on whose account was hacked.
One of the sources said the FBI also informed the Biden-Harris campaign in June that Iranian hackers were targeting the campaign.
“Our campaign vigilantly monitors and protects against cyber threats and we are not aware of any breaches of our systems,” a Harris campaign official told CNN.
The FBI said in a statement Monday that it was investigating the reported cyberattack on the Trump campaign, but declined further comment.
US intelligence officials informed the Senate Intelligence Committee about the hacking attack, another source familiar with the matter told CNN.
Iran has denied the allegations and the U.S. government has not publicly or officially pointed the finger at Iran. But the techniques the hackers used to attack Trump’s campaign team are consistent with those used by Iranian hackers, according to a source familiar with the matter.
The news is further evidence that Iranian intelligence agencies are aggressively trying to influence the 2024 U.S. presidential election, eclipsing Russian activity in the process. U.S. intelligence agencies warned last month of an ongoing covert social media campaign by Iran to undermine Trump’s candidacy and stoke “social discord” in the U.S. ahead of the November election. Such activity includes the creation of fake news sites aimed at liberal and conservative voters, according to Microsoft.
US intelligence director Avril Haines also accused Iran of secretly fuelling protests in the US related to the Israel-Hamas conflict by posing as activists on the Internet and, in some cases, financially supporting demonstrators.
CNN’s Zachary Cohen contributed reporting.
This story has been updated with additional reporting.
