The US Department of Justice charged three Iranian nationals as part of an effort to hack into the emails and computers used by President Donald Trump’s campaign staff and other political connections.
The Washington Post reported that DOJ officials filed charges against Masoud Jalili, Seyyed Ali Aghamiri and Yasar Balaghi in an indictment filed Thursday in the US District Court for the District of Columbia. The indictment alleges the three men “prepared for and engaged in a wide-ranging hacking campaign” against current and former US officials, political campaigns and the media.
According to the indictment Jalili, Aghamiri and Balaghi’s “activity is part of Iran’s continuing efforts to […] erode confidence in the US electoral process.” They also face possible charges such as providing material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.
The suspects are accused of running a targeted hacking campaign committed in Iran over a four-year period. Their victims include current and former officials with the US State Department, the Central Intelligence Agency, the US Ambassador to Israel and an Iranian human rights organization.
Then last May, the three hackers successfully gained access to accounts belonging to Trump campaign officials. (Attempts to breach Biden campaign staff were, apparently, unsuccessful.) President Joe Biden’s campaign staffers as well as news outlets like The Washington Post and Politico received unsolicited emails from an AOL account owned by “Robert” that contained materials stolen from the Trump campaign. They included some internal poll results and the vetting dossier for Trump’s running mate Senator J.D. Vance.
Because of extradition laws, it’s unlikely these hackers will be brought to justice on US soil.