FBI investigating attempts to hack US presidential campaigns

The FBI is conducting an investigation following reports from both the Trump and Biden-Harris campaigns of attempted hacks into their communications. The alleged attacks include on three Biden-Harris campaign staffers and Roger Stone, a former adviser to Donald Trump.

Stone told The Washington Post that his email had been compromised.

“I was informed by the authorities that a couple of my personal email accounts have been compromised,” Stone said in a brief interview. “I really don’t know more about it. And I’m cooperating. It’s all very strange.”

It remains unclear if the attempts on the Biden campaign were successful. No evidence suggests that the Harris campaign was affected.

The investigation, initiated in June when President Joe Biden was still a presidential candidate, focuses on suspected Iranian efforts to steal data from the campaigns. This follows a Microsoft report issued Aug, 9, indicating that Iranian operatives attempted to interfere with the 2024 election.

According to Microsoft, these operatives tried to infiltrate the account of a high-ranking official within a U.S. presidential campaign. They also managed to compromise an account of a former political adviser, which was then used to target the campaign.

Trump’s campaign stated that it seemed to have been impacted by these efforts after confidential campaign documents were leaked to various news outlets. The Iranian government has denied involvement in hacking the Trump campaign.