WASHINGTON: With less than three months before the US election, Iran is intensifying its efforts to meddle in American politics, US officials and private cybersecurity firms say, with the suspected hack of Donald Trump’s campaign being only the latest and most brazen example.
Iran has long been described as a “chaos agent” when it comes to cyberattacks and disinformation campaigns and in recent months groups linked to the government in Tehran have covertly encouraged protests over Israel’s war in Gaza, impersonated American activists and created networks of fake news websites and social media accounts primed to spread false and misleading information to audiences in the US
While Russia and China remain bigger cyber threats against the US, experts and intelligence officials say Iran’s increasingly aggressive stance marks a significant escalation of efforts to confuse, deceive and frighten American voters ahead of the election.
The pace will likely continue to increase as the election nears and America’s adversaries exploit the Internet and advancements in artificial intelligence to sow discord and confusion.
“We’re starting to really see that uptick and it makes sense, 90 days out from the election,” said Sean Minor, a former information warfare expert for the US Army who now analyzes online threats for the cybersecurity firm Recorded Future, which has seen a sharp increase in cyber operations from Iran and other nations. “As we get closer, we suspect that these networks will get more aggressive.”
The FBI is investigating the suspected hack of the Trump campaign as well as efforts to infiltrate the campaign of President Joe Biden, which became Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign when Biden dropped out. Trump’s campaign announced Saturday that someone illegally accessed and retrieved internal documents, later distributed to three news outlets. The campaign blamed Iran, noting a recent Microsoft report revealing an attempt by Iranian military intelligence to hack into the systems of one of the presidential campaigns.
“A lot of people think it was Iran. Probably was,” Trump said Tuesday on Univision before shrugging off the value of the leaked material. “I think it’s pretty boring information.”
Iran has denied any involvement in the hack and said it has no interest in meddling with US politics.
That denial is disputed by US intelligence officials and private cybersecurity firms who have linked Iran’s government and military to several recent campaigns targeting the US, saying they reflect Iran’s growing capabilities and its increasing willingness to use them.
On Wednesday Google announced it had uncovered a group linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard that it said had tried to infiltrate the personal email accounts of roughly a dozen people linked to Biden and Trump since May.
The company, which contacted law enforcement with its suspicions, said the group is still targeting people associated with Biden, Trump and Harris. It wasn’t clear whether the network identified by Google was connected to the attempt that Trump and Microsoft reported, or were part of a second attempt to infiltrate the campaign’s systems.
Iran has a few different motives in seeking to influence US elections, intelligence officials and cybersecurity analysts say. The country seeks to spread confusion and increase polarization in the US while undermining support for Israel. Iran also aims to hurt candidates that it believes would increase tension between Washington and Tehran.
That’s a description that fits Trump, whose administration ended a nuclear deal with Iran, reimposed sanctions and ordered the killing of an Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, an act that prompted Iran’s leaders to vow revenge.
The two leaders of the Senate intelligence committee issued a joint letter on Wednesday warning Tehran and other governments hostile to the US that attempts to deceive Americans or disrupt the election will not be tolerated.
“There will be consequences to interfering in the American democratic process,” wrote the committee’s chairman, Democratic Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, along with Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, the vice chairman.
In 2021, federal authorities charged two Iranian nationals with attempting to interfere with the election the year before. As part of the plot, the men wrote emails claiming to be members of the far-right Proud Boys in which they threatened Democratic voters with violence.
Last month, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines said the Iranian government had covertly supported American protests against Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza. Groups linked to Iran’s government also posed as online activists, encouraged campus protests and provided financial support to some protest groups, Haines said.
Recent reports from Microsoft and Recorded Future have also linked Iran’s government to networks of fake news websites and social media accounts posing as Americans. The networks were discovered before they gained much influence and analysts say they may have been created ahead of time, to be activated in the weeks immediately before the election.
The final weeks before an election may be the most dangerous when it comes to foreign efforts to impact voting. That’s when voters pay the most attention to politics and when false claims about candidates or voting can do the most damage.
So-called ‘hack-and-leak’ attacks like the one reported by Trump’s campaign involve a hacker obtaining sensitive information from a private network and then releasing it, either to select individuals, the news media or to the public. Such attacks not only expose confidential information but can also raise questions about cybersecurity and the vulnerability of critical networks and systems.
Especially concerning for elections, authorities say, would be an attack targeting a state or local election office that reveals sensitive information or disables election operations. Such an incursion could undermine trust in voting, even if the information exposed is worthless. Experts refer to this last possibility as a “perception hack,” when hackers steal information not because of its value, but because they want to flaunt their capabilities while spreading fear and confusion among their adversaries.
“That can actually be more of a threat — the spectacle, the marketing this gives foreign adversaries — than the actual hack,” said Gavin Wilde, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and former National Security Council analyst who specializes in cyber threats.
In 2016, Russian hackers infiltrated Hillary Clinton’s campaign emails, ultimately obtaining and releasing some of the campaign’s most protected information in a hack-and-leak that upended the campaign in its final weeks.
Recent advances in artificial intelligence have made it easier than ever to create and spread disinformation, including lifelike video and audio allowing hackers to impersonate someone and gain access to their organization’s systems. Nevertheless, the alleged hack of the Trump campaign reportedly involved much simpler techniques: someone gained access to an email account that lacked sufficient security protections.
While people and organizations can take steps to minimize their vulnerability to hacks, nothing can eliminate the risk entirely, Wilde said, or completely reduce the likelihood that foreign adversaries will mount attacks on campaigns.
“The tax we pay for being a digital society is that these hacks and leaks are unavoidable,” he said. “Whether you’re a business, a campaign or a government.”
‘Chaos agent’: Suspected Trump hack comes as Iran flexes digital muscles ahead of US election
https://arab.news/mtr95
‘Chaos agent’: Suspected Trump hack comes as Iran flexes digital muscles ahead of US election
- Iran has denied any involvement in the hack and said it has no interest in meddling with US politics
Russia planned ‘acts of terrorism’ in the air, Polish PM says
Russia has denied involvement in the incidents and Tusk did not mention them specifically
WARSAW: Russia planned ‘acts of terrorism’ in the air against Poland and other countries, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Wednesday after meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Warsaw.
Security officials have said that parcels that exploded at logistics depots in Europe were part of a test run for a Russian plot to trigger explosions on cargo flights to the United States. The explosions occurred in depots in Britain, Germany and Poland in July. Russia has denied involvement in the incidents and Tusk did not mention them specifically.
“The latest information can confirm the validity of fears that Russia was planning acts of terrorism in the air not only against Poland,” Tusk told a news conference. He did not say what acts he was referring to or elaborate on the contents of the information.
Moscow has regularly denied any involvement in the courier depot explosions, as well as break-ins, arson and attacks on individuals which Western officials say were carried out by operatives paid by Russia. The Russian embassy in Warsaw has not immediately replied to an emailed request for comment on Tusk’s statement.
US must not become complacent to a growing terrorism threat, a Counterterrorism Center official says
US must not become complacent to a growing terrorism threat, a Counterterrorism Center official says
- “We are in a period where we are facing an elevated threat environment,” Holmgren said
- He also points to mass migration from the Russia-Ukraine war that has sent central Asians to countries including Turkiye, Syria, Iraq and even the US
UNITED STATES: Brett Holmgren got woken up early on New Year’s Day by alerts that a driver had plowed into a crowd of revellers in New Orleans.
The rampage, which killed 14 people, was the deadliest attack on US soil in years and was inspired by the Daesh group.
The National Counterterrorism Center, which Holmgren leads, sprang into action to help the FBI run down information on the culprit from Texas and his plot.
It was a rare recent example of a mass attack motivated by religious extremism to hit the US homeland. But it didn’t occur in a vacuum, coming at a time when a terror threat that has waxed and waned in the two decades since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks is decidedly on the rise around the world.
“We are in a period where we are facing an elevated threat environment,” Holmgren said in an interview with The Associated Press. “We faced that last year. We’re going to face it again in 2025.”
The NCTC emerged in the aftermath of 9/11 as a centralized US government hub to collect and analyze data and intelligence on the international terrorism threat, providing information to the White House and other agencies to shape policy decisions and protect against attacks.
A former counterterrorism analyst and assistant secretary of state, Holmgren was named its acting director last July and intends to step aside at the conclusion of the Biden administration.
At that point, new leadership under President-elect Donald Trump will grapple with managing some of the global hot spots like Syria that have vexed officials in recent months and that the NCTC has been tracking.
Holmgren cites multiple factors for why the threat is higher than before, including passions arising from the Israel-Hamas war — a conflict that he says has been a driving factor in some 45 attacks worldwide since October 2023. He also points to mass migration from the Russia-Ukraine war that has sent central Asians, some with ties to the Daesh group, to countries including Turkiye, Syria, Iraq and even the US
Around the world, officials are monitoring tensions in Africa, which Holmgren called potentially the greatest long-term threat to US security given that the Daesh group has a large footprint on the continent and is investing resources there.
He says the “most potent overseas threat facing the United States” right now is the group’s Afghanistan-based affiliate, known as Daesh-Khorasan, whose attacks include a March 2024 massacre at a Moscow theater and the August 2021 bombing that killed 13 US service members and about 170 Afghans in the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan.
One ongoing spot of concern is Syria, where an insurgent group named Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, or HTS, led a lightning offensive last month that toppled the government of President Bashar Assad.
HTS is a Sunni Islamist group that formerly had ties with Al-Qaeda, although its leader has preached religious coexistence since taking over in Damascus. The group has not plotted against US interests in recent years and has been “the most effective counterterrorism partner on the ground,” Holmgren said.
HTS has been designated by the State Department as a foreign terror organization, a label that carries severe sanctions.
Asked whether that designation would remain, Holmgren said that was a policy decision, though he noted: “They want to be perceived as being on the right side of the international community at this time when it comes to (counterterrorism). But we will continue to evaluate not just their words but also the actions that they’re undertaking.”
In an indication of Syria’s continued instability, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told The Associated Press last week that the US needs to keep troops there to prevent the Daesh group from reconstituting, and intelligence officials in Syria’s new de facto government already have thwarted a plan by Daesh to set off a bomb at a Shiite shrine in a Damascus suburb.
US officials, meanwhile, remain concerned about the possibility of Daesh gaining strength by taking over weapons left behind by Assad’s government or through a mass release of fighters who are now imprisoned.
“A large-scale prisoner release in Syria could provide a real boost in the arm for IS at a time where they have been under significant pressure,” Holmgren said.
The counterterrorism center’s focus is on international terrorism, which includes cases in the US like the New Orleans rampage in which the attacker was inspired by a group from abroad. The culprit, 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar, pledged his allegiance to Daesh in videos he recorded just before he drove his speeding pickup truck into a crowd on Bourbon Street early on Jan. 1.
As of now, Holmgren said, there’s no evidence that Jabbar was communicating with any Daesh operatives overseas or guided by anyone, but given that he was a lone actor who was radicalized, “this symbolizes exactly the type of attack that we’ve warned about for some time.”
“And I think it illustrates that while we have been quite effective as a government and across administrations at disrupting plotting overseas and going after terrorist leaders, we have a lot more work to do when it comes to countering violent extremism at home, countering violent extremist propaganda abroad,” he added.
“That is ultimately what is going to be needed to prevent more attacks like the one in New Orleans,” Holmgren said.
By the same token, through vast intelligence collection, hardened defenses and overseas counterterrorism operations, the US has made the risk of another large-scale attack like Sept. 11 lower than it’s ever been.
“But if we get complacent as a country,” he warned, “it will come back to bite us.”
South Korean investigators arrest President Yoon in insurrection probe
- Yoon is the first sitting president in South Korean history to be arrested
- His last month’s short-lived martial law order plunged the country into turmoil
SEOUL: South Korean authorities arrested President Yoon Suk-yeol on Wednesday over accusations of insurrection following his briefly imposed martial law.
The arrest ended a standoff between investigators and Yoon’s presidential security team, which had prevented his detention earlier this month.
The Corruption Investigation Office announced it had “executed an arrest warrant for President Yoon Suk-yeol today at 10:33 am,” after which he was seen stepping out of the car wearing a white shirt and suit as he slipped through the CIO’s back entrance for high-ranking officials.
“I decided to answer to the CIO’s investigations in order to prevent unsavory bloodshed,” Yoon said in a pre-recorded video statement released by his lawyers following the arrest.
“That does not mean I recognize the CIO’s investigation as legitimate.”
The CIO is leading a joint probe — together with military investigators and police — to probe allegations against Yoon.
He is charged with insurrection and will be held at the Seoul Detention Center. Authorities now have 48 hours to question the president and seek a warrant to detain him for up to 20 days.
The probe coincides with Yoon’s impeachment trial at the Constitutional Court. The trial began on Tuesday but hearings were adjourned minutes after it started due to Yoon’s absence.
The trial follows the National Assembly’s vote on Dec. 14 to impeach Yoon over the imposition of martial law on Dec. 3 — a move that lawmakers swiftly overturned hours after it was announced.
Yoon is the first sitting president in South Korean history to be arrested.
The CIO’s legitimacy in investigating Yoon has come under scrutiny as the president and his lawyers argue that it lacks the legal authority to investigate insurrection charges.
“The CIO does not have the right to investigate insurrection charges ... we strongly urge them to follow due legal processes,” Yoon’s lawyer and friend of 40-years, Seok Dong-hyun, said in a press conference after the president was taken into custody.
But Prof. Hong Young-ki from the Korea University School of Law told Arab News it was a matter of interpreting the law, “but the court has already confirmed the legitimacy” by approving the arrest warrant.
“The court already recognized the CIO’s jurisdiction when it issued the arrest warrant. Then who can go against the court and say that the CIO is illegitimate? How can a third party do it?” he said.
“The president wants to say that, but how can someone who was merely a prosecutor say his interpretation is more correct than that of the court? I don’t really think his argument has that much persuasive power.”
Claiming that the CIO’s investigation was illegitimate, Yoon was trying to evade arrest also during the eventually successful second attempt, which started at 4:10 a.m., with 3,000 officers surrounding his hillside house.
Buses and barbed wire were set up on the road leading to Yoon’s residence to prevent entry, while lawmakers from the president’s ruling People’s Power Party gathered at the site, tried to block the authorities, and shouted that “South Korea’s rule of law has collapsed” and that the “constitution has been destroyed.”
The opposition Democratic Party welcomed the arrest.
“A bit late, but it shows that South Korea’s governmental authority and justice is still alive,” floor leader Park Chan-dae said in a briefing.
“(Yoon’s arrest) is the first step in restoring liberal democracy and realizing the rule of law.”
South Korean investigators question President Yoon in insurrection probe
- Yoon is the first sitting president in South Korean history to be arrested
- His last month’s short-lived martial law order plunged the country into turmoil
Seoul: South Korean investigators began questioning President Yoon Suk-yeol on Wednesday after arresting him over accusations of insurrection following his briefly imposed martial law.
The arrest ended a standoff between investigators and Yoon’s presidential security team, which had prevented his detention earlier this month.
The Corruption Investigation Office announced it had “executed an arrest warrant for President Yoon Suk-yeol today at 10:33 am,” after which he was seen stepping out of the car wearing a white shirt and suit as he slipped through the CIO’s back entrance for high-ranking officials.
“I decided to answer to the CIO’s investigations in order to prevent unsavory bloodshed,” Yoon said in a pre-recorded video statement released by his lawyers following the arrest.
“That does not mean I recognize the CIO’s investigation as legitimate.”
The CIO is leading a joint probe — together with military investigators and police — to probe allegations against Yoon.
He is charged with insurrection and will be held at the Seoul Detention Center. Authorities now have 48 hours to question the president and seek a warrant to detain him for up to 20 days.
The probe coincides with Yoon’s impeachment trial at the Constitutional Court. The trial began on Tuesday, but hearings were adjourned minutes after it started due to Yoon’s absence.
The trial follows the National Assembly’s vote on Dec. 14 to impeach Yoon over the imposition of martial law on Dec. 3 — a move that lawmakers swiftly overturned hours after it was announced.
Yoon is the first sitting president in South Korean history to be arrested.
The CIO’s legitimacy in investigating Yoon has come under scrutiny as the president and his lawyers argue that it lacks the legal authority to investigate insurrection charges.
“The CIO does not have the right to investigate insurrection charges ... We strongly urge them to follow due legal processes,” Yoon’s lawyer and friend of 40 years, Seok Dong-hyun, said in a press conference after the president was taken into custody.
Prof. Hong Young-ki from the Korea University School of Law told Arab News it was a matter of interpreting the law, “but the court has already confirmed the legitimacy” by approving the arrest warrant.
“The court already recognized the CIO’s jurisdiction when it issued the arrest warrant. Then who can go against the court and say that the CIO is illegitimate? How can a third party do it?” he said.
“The president wants to say that, but how can someone who was merely a prosecutor say his interpretation is more correct than that of the court? I don’t really think his argument has that much persuasive power.”
Claiming that the CIO’s investigation was illegitimate, Yoon tried to evade arrest also during the eventually successful second attempt, which started at 4:10 a.m., with 3,000 officers surrounding his hillside house.
Buses and barbed wire were set up on the road leading to Yoon’s residence to prevent entry, while lawmakers from the president’s ruling People’s Power Party gathered at the site, tried to block the authorities, and shouted that “South Korea’s rule of law has collapsed” and that the “constitution has been destroyed.”
The opposition Democratic Party welcomed the arrest.
“A bit late, but it shows that South Korea’s governmental authority and justice is still alive,” floor leader Park Chan-dae said in a briefing.
“(Yoon’s arrest) is the first step in restoring liberal democracy and realizing the rule of law.”
Dense fog over Indian capital delays flights, trains
- Visibility at Delhi’s main airport was between zero to 100 meters, over 40 trains across northern India delayed
- Delhi was ranked as the world’s most polluted city in live rankings by Swiss group IQAir on Wednesday
Dense fog and cold weather delayed train and flight departures in several parts of northern India, including its capital New Delhi, on Wednesday.
India’s weather office issued an orange alert for Delhi, the second highest warning level, forecasting dense to very dense fog in many areas.
Visibility at Delhi’s main airport was between zero to 100 meters (328.08 ft), the weather office said, and more than 40 trains across northern India were delayed because of fog, local media reported.
Some aircraft departures from Delhi were delayed, airport authorities said on social media platform X, warning that flights lacking the CAT III navigation system that enables landing despite low visibility would face difficulties. Delhi’s main airport handles about 1,400 flights every day.
“Low visibility and fog over Delhi may lead to some delays,” the country’s largest airline IndiGo said in a social media post.
Local media showed images of vehicles crawling along highways through the fog, and people huddled indoors as the temperature dipped to 7 degrees Celsius (44.6 degrees Fahrenheit).
Delhi was ranked as the world’s most polluted city in live rankings by Swiss group IQAir on Wednesday, with a reading of 254, ranked as “very unhealthy.”
The Indian capital has been battling poor air quality and smog since the beginning of winter.
