		<div class="wpcnt">
			<div class="wpa">
				<span class="wpa-about">Advertisements</span>
				<div class="u top_amp">
							<amp-ad width="300" height="265"
		 type="pubmine"
		 data-siteid="111265417"
		 data-section="1">
		</amp-ad>
				</div>
			</div>
		</div><p>State-backed hackers have targeted the election campaigns of US President Donald Trump and former vice president Joe Biden, Google said.</p>
<p>The company confirmed the findings after the director of its Threat Analysis Group, Shane Huntley, disclosed the attempts on Twitter.</p>
<p>Mr Huntley said a Chinese group known as Hurricane Panda targeted Trump campaign staff while an Iranian outfit known as Charming Kitten had attempted to breach accounts of Biden campaign workers.</p>
<p>Google said it saw no evidence that the phishing attempts were successful.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">If you are working on a campaign this election cycle, your personal accounts may be targeted. Use the best protection you can. Two factor authentication or Advanced Protection really can make a difference. <a href="https://t.co/Y8shDx9eWu">https://t.co/Y8shDx9eWu</a></p>
<p>&mdash; Shane Huntley (@ShaneHuntley) <a href="https://twitter.com/ShaneHuntley/status/1268589220601323521?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 4, 2020</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>Such attempts typically involve forged emails with links designed to harvest passwords or infect devices with malware.</p>
<p>The effort targeted personal email accounts of staff in both campaigns, according to the company statement.</p>
<p>A Google spokesman added that “<i>the timeline is recent and that a couple of people were targeted on both campaigns</i>”.</p>
<p>He would not say how many.</p>
<p>Google said it sent targeted users “<i>our standard government-backed attack warning</i>” and referred the incidents to federal law enforcement.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">This is a major disclosure of potential cyber-enabled influence operations, just as we saw in 2016. </p>
<p>The part here disclosed by <a href="https://twitter.com/ShaneHuntley?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ShaneHuntley</a>&#39;s team at <a href="https://twitter.com/Google?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Google</a> is the cyber-enabled pre-cursor to potential influence operations.</p>
<p>It&#39;s a necessary reminder, especially to campaigns. <a href="https://t.co/eKqWvN7Ub0">https://t.co/eKqWvN7Ub0</a></p>
<p>&mdash; Graham Brookie (@GrahamBrookie) <a href="https://twitter.com/GrahamBrookie/status/1268594454002380804?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 4, 2020</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>Graham Brookie, director of the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab, called the announcement “<i>a major disclosure of potential cyber-enabled influence operations, just as we saw in 2016</i>″.</p>
<p>His tweet referred to the Russian hacking of the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign and subsequent online release of internal emails – some doctored – that US investigators determined sought to assist the Trump campaign.</p>
<p>Neither the Biden nor the Trump campaign would say how many staff were targeted, when the attempts took place or whether the phishing was successful.</p>
<p>Both campaigns have been extremely reticent about discussing cyber security.</p>
<p>“<i>The Trump campaign has been briefed that foreign actors unsuccessfully attempted to breach the technology of our staff,</i>” the campaign said in a statement.</p>
<p>“<i>We are vigilant about cyber security and do not discuss any of our precautions</i>.”</p>
<p>The Biden campaign did not even confirm the attempt.</p>
<p>“<i>We are aware of reports from Google that a foreign actor has made unsuccessful attempts to access the personal email accounts of campaign staff,</i>” it said in a statement.</p>
<p>“<i>We have known from the beginning of our campaign that we would be subject to such attacks and we are prepared for them.</i>”</p>
<p>Hurricane Panda, also known by security researchers as Zirconium or APT31 – an abbreviation for “<i>advanced persistent threat</i>” – is known for focusing on intellectual property theft and other espionage.</p>
<p>Charming Kitten, also known as Newscaster and APT35, is reported to have targeted US and Middle Eastern government officials and businesses, also for information theft and spying.</p>
<p>In October, Microsoft said hackers linked to Iran’s government had targeted a US presidential campaign and the New York Times and Reuters identified the target as Mr Trump’s re-election campaign.</p>
<p>Campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh said at the time that there was “<i>no indication that any of our campaign infrastructure was targeted</i>”.</p>
<p>A former director of the National Security Agency, Keith Alexander, said he fully expects geopolitical rivals of the US to take advantage of the Covid-19 crisis and unrest in the country.</p>
<p>“<i>This is an increased time I think for adversaries to hurt our country and I do think they will take that during elections,</i>” he said.</p>
			<div style="padding-bottom:15px;" class="wordads-tag" data-slot-type="belowpost">
				<div id="atatags-dynamic-belowpost-68ed2c396c2fa">
					<script type="text/javascript">
						window.getAdSnippetCallback = function () {
							if ( false === ( window.isWatlV1 ?? false ) ) {
								// Use Aditude scripts.
								window.tudeMappings = window.tudeMappings || [];
								window.tudeMappings.push( {
									divId: 'atatags-dynamic-belowpost-68ed2c396c2fa',
									format: 'belowpost',
								} );
							}
						}

						if ( document.readyState === 'loading' ) {
							document.addEventListener( 'DOMContentLoaded', window.getAdSnippetCallback );
						} else {
							window.getAdSnippetCallback();
						}
					</script>
				</div>
			</div>
Discover more from London Glossy Post
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
