Iranian Hackers Target US Politicians on Meta Platforms
Meta, the company that owns the popular social networks Facebook, Instagram, and the messaging service WhatsApp, has uncovered attempts to hack the accounts of American officials. The hackers targeted representatives from both the current administration of President Joe Biden and the former President Donald Trump.
According to a statement from Meta published on its official blog, the perpetrators employed sophisticated social engineering tactics. They created fake accounts, posing as technical support services for well-known internet giants like AOL, Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft. The goal of these actions was to gain access to the WhatsApp accounts of high-ranking individuals.
The vigilance of users helped prevent a potential data breach. Recipients of suspicious messages promptly reported them to the security service, allowing the company to swiftly block the malicious accounts. The content of the messages has not been disclosed. At present, there is no evidence that the hackers succeeded in accessing the victims’ accounts.
Experts link this attack to the activities of the hacker group APT42, which is believed by specialists to be a division of Iranian military intelligence. The perpetrators typically install their spyware on the victims’ mobile devices. The software enables the recording of phone conversations, interception of text messages, and even the covert activation of smartphone cameras and microphones.
Moreover, the hackers’ targets included not only American politicians and diplomats but also public figures and businessmen from Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Iran, the United States, and the United Kingdom. To protect their privacy, Meta has not disclosed the exact names of the affected individuals.
This attack is not an isolated incident. Earlier in August, Donald Trump’s campaign team reported a breach, which they also attributed to Iran. U.S. intelligence confirmed the involvement of Iranian hackers in this incident. Furthermore, according to a recent Microsoft report, several Iranian hacker groups are actively attempting to interfere in the upcoming U.S. elections by launching various disinformation campaigns online.
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