I. Bonifacic@igorbonifacicNovember 18th, 2021In this short article: Justice Office, information, gear, cybersecurity, IranJonathan Ernst / reuters
The US Section of Justice has billed two Iranian hackers for their involvement in a disinformation campaign that qualified American voters forward of the 2020 presidential election. In October of very last yr, Seyyed Kazemi and Sajjad Kashian allegedly sent threatening e-mail to Democratic voters in Florida in which they threatened to bodily damage them if they did not vote for previous President Donald Trump. When the incident 1st transpired, the US Director of National Intelligence held a push conference to warn voters of the emails.
Additionally, Kazemi and Kashian allegedly tried to split into 11 condition voter registration and data web sites. In one occasion, the DOJ alleges they effectively downloaded the information of much more than 100,000 state voters. They could have also carried out a disinformation marketing campaign on Facebook that noticed them make contact with, amid other men and women, Republican senators and users of Congress. They claimed they have been volunteers with Proud Boys and explained they experienced proof the Democratic Occasion prepared to exploit security vulnerabilities in election units to edit mail-in ballots.
Kazemi and Kashian’s efforts to sway the election culminated on November 4th when they allegedly attempted to hack the network of a US media organization. They were being unsuccessful simply because the FBI had warned the company in time.
“This indictment facts how two Iran-based mostly actors waged a targeted, coordinated marketing campaign to erode assurance in the integrity of the U.S. electoral process and to sow discord among Individuals,” reported Assistant Lawyer Normal Matthew G. Olsen of the DOJ’s Countrywide Security Division in a statement. “The allegations illustrate how overseas disinformation campaigns run and request to affect the American community.”
US officers informed The Washington Put up they imagine the two hackers are presently in Iran, suggesting they may well not facial area authorities whenever soon. The DOJ also didn’t instantly website link their actions to the Iranian governing administration.
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