Google said in a research report released Wednesday that it detected efforts by Iranian hackers to target both the Trump and Biden-Harris campaigns in May and June as part of a larger email phishing operation that is still ongoing.
Google’s announcement lends credence to the Trump campaign’s claim Saturday that it was hacked as part of Iran’s campaign to disrupt the election.
In a report, Google’s Threat Analysis Group, which tracks government-sponsored cyberattacks, said it had disrupted a “small but stable” phishing operation from a hacking unit tied to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
In May and June, “the personal email accounts of approximately a dozen individuals associated with President Biden and former President Trump were targeted, including current and former U.S. government officials and individuals associated with the respective campaigns,” Google said in its report. . The company blocked “numerous” attempts to log into the subjects’ personal email addresses, it said.
Google said the hacking operation accessed the Gmail account of at least one high-profile political consultant in July. The company said it secured the account and forwarded the matter to law enforcement authorities. The company did not reveal the consultant’s identity or whether the consultant was involved in either campaign.
Like many elite government-affiliated hacking groups, Revolutionary Guard hackers are known for their tenacity. Google said it “continues to detect” failed attempts to hack into accounts linked to Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and Trump.
According to Google, the hacking companies, which are part of a larger campaign to hack targets in the US and Israel, have used Google products such as Sites, Drive and Gmail.
Reports of a credible hacking threat to US presidential campaigns began last week when Microsoft said hackers linked to the Revolutionary Guard had broken into the email account of a former senior adviser to the presidential campaign. Microsoft did not provide more detailed information about the hack.
A spokesman for Iran’s mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Iranian state news previously reported that a representative of the operation had denied Iranian involvement in the hacking of the Trump campaign.
Over the weekend, three US news outlets – Politico, The Washington Post and The New York Times – said they had received emails containing Trump campaign files in what appeared to be a “hacking and leaking operation” to embarrass Trump. . The FBI said Monday it was investigating efforts to hack both the Trump and Biden-Harris campaigns, but did not provide further details.
Only the Trump campaign has claimed to have been hacked. This spring, the first round of phishing emails occurred before Biden dropped out of the race and Harris became the Democratic nominee. A Harris official told NBC News that the campaign was not aware of any data breach.
So far, no major cybersecurity company or government agency has specifically said that Iran managed to hack the Trump campaign. Microsoft has declined to comment further on the report. A Microsoft spokesperson told NBC News that it is its policy to refrain from disclosing information about a hacked victim unless the victim clearly requests it.
The series of events comes after a U.S. intelligence official at the Foreign Malign Influence Center, one of the few U.S. government units dedicated to combating foreign propaganda campaigns, warned that Iran is likely to continue efforts to discredit Trump.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com