Google has sounded the alarm on a series of sophisticated hacking attempts by an Iranian-backed group, APT42, targeting the presidential campaigns of Donald Trump and Kamala Harris.
The hackers, linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, have been using tailored phishing tactics to dupe high-profile individuals and organizations in the US and Israel into revealing sensitive information.
Google’s threat analysis group has reported unsuccessful attempts by APT42 to compromise personal accounts of individuals affiliated with President Joe Biden, Vice President Harris, and Trump, but warns of the group’s persistence and novel tactics.
The hackers employ social engineering tactics, including posing as think tanks or credible contacts, to lure victims into revealing log-in information for accounts like Gmail.
Google disrupted APT42’s attempts to hack the campaigns of Biden and Trump in 2020 and blocked numerous attempts to log in to their accounts in May and June this year.
Google has urged high-risk individuals associated with the upcoming election to remain vigilant and take advantage of enhanced defenses offered by the internet firm.
The US State Department has warned Iran of consequences over election interference following the Trump campaign’s announcement that it had been hacked.
