Meta alerts the campaigns of Kamala Harris and Donald Trump ahead of the elections in November and prevents Iran-linked hackers on WhatsApp
Meta Alerts: On Friday, Meta said that it has alerted US presidential campaigns to the possibility of an Iranian-linked hacking effort using the WhatsApp messaging app.
After Google and Microsoft discovered prior similar efforts ascribed to Iran, the internet giant has now revealed further hacking threats ahead of the November election between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.
According to Meta, messages purporting to be technical help from AOL, Google, Yahoo, or Microsoft were delivered by WhatsApp accounts connected to an Iranian “threat actor”.
“This malicious activity originated in Iran and attempted to target individuals in Israel, Palestine, Iran, the United States and the UK,” Meta said on Facebook.
“This effort appeared to have focused on political and diplomatic officials, and other public figures, including some associated with administrations of President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump.”
According to Meta, accounts engaged in what seemed to be “social engineering”— fooling individuals into granting access to networks or important data— were banned.
According to Meta, an investigation connected the efforts to the same hacker gang behind earlier assaults on officials from the military, diplomatic, and political spheres that were publicized by Google and Microsoft.
“Given the heightened threat environment ahead of the US election, we also shared information about this malicious activity with law enforcement and with the presidential campaigns to encourage them to stay cautious against potential adversarial targeting,” Meta said.
Three US intelligence and security agencies announced on Monday that Iran was responsible for a recent breach that was directed against Trump’s presidential campaign, and they accused Tehran of trying to influence the results of the 2024 election.
Following the disclosure to a US media source of internal correspondence and a dossier on running mate J.D. Vance, the statement verified an allegation made by the Trump campaign earlier this month.
On August 13, Harris’s campaign said that it, too, had been the target of foreign hackers; however, it did not specify which nation was thought to be responsible for the assault.
Last Monday, OpenAI said that it has eliminated many ChatGPT accounts that were being used to produce material for a “covert Iranian influence operation.”
According to OpenAI, the operation employed ChatGPT to generate articles and brief remarks, which were subsequently posted on websites or social media platforms.
The US presidential election, Israel’s participation in the Olympics, and the Gaza situation were the main subjects of conversation.
“They interspersed their political content with comments about fashion and beauty, possibly to appear more authentic or in an attempt to build a following,” stated OpenAI.
Clint Watts, general manager of the Microsoft Threat Analysis Center, stated that groups associated with the Iranian government have “laid the groundwork for influence campaigns on trending election-related topics and begun to activate these campaigns in an apparent effort to stir up controversy or sway voters — especially in swing states.”
Avril Haines, the director of national intelligence, issued a warning earlier this year about Iran’s “increasingly aggressive” influence operations, claiming that the country was attempting to sow division and weaken democratic institutions, as it has in previous election cycles.
