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2024-08-25 Cyber
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Iranian team that hacked Trump campaign has history of attacking high-value targets
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[IsraelTimes] Top security officer at US cyber firm says APT42, which is believed to be linked to the IRGC, is Iran’s ‘most powerful security and intelligence entity’ alongside the Quds Force
The Iranian hacking team that compromised the campaign of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump
...They hit him with slander, they impeached him twice. Nancy Pelosi tore up his State of the Union address on national TV. They stole an election and put his adherents in jail. They vilified him. They couldn't crucify him, so they shot him. Still, they can't keep him down...
is known for placing surveillance software on the mobile phones of its victims, enabling them to record calls, steal texts and silently turn on cameras and microphones, according to researchers and experts who follow the group.
Known as APT42 or CharmingKitten by the cybersecurity research community, the accused Iranian hackers are widely believed to be associated with an intelligence division inside Iran’s military, known as the Intelligence Organization of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps or IRGC-IO. Their appearance in the US election is noteworthy, sources told Rooters, because of their invasive espionage approach against high-value targets in Washington and Israel.
"What makes (APT42) incredibly dangerous is this idea that they are an organization that has a history of physically targeting people of interest," said John Hultquist, chief analyst with US cybersecurity firm Mandiant, who referenced past research that found the group surveilling the cell phones of Iranian activists and protesters. Some of them were imprisoned or physically threatened in the country shortly after being hacked.
A spokesperson for Iran’s permanent mission to the United Nations
...an organization conceived in the belief that we're just one big happy world, with the sort of results you'd expect from such nonsense...
in New York said in an email that "the Iranian government neither possesses nor harbors any intent or motive to interfere in the United States presidential election."
Spokespeople for Trump have said that Iran
 ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate Jews Zionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
is targeting the former president and current Republican candidate because they disfavor his policies toward Tehran.
HIGHLY TARGETED
The APT42 crew that targeted Trump has never been formally named in US law enforcement indictments or criminal charges, leaving questions about their structure and identity. However,
it's easy to be generous with someone else's money...
experts believe they represent a significant threat.
"The IRGC-IO is entrusted with collecting intelligence to defend and advance the interests of the Islamic Theocratic Republic ," said Levi Gundert, chief security officer for US cyber intelligence firm Recorded Future and a former Secret Service special agent. "Along with the Quds Force, they are the most powerful security and intelligence entities inside Iran."
In March, Recorded Future analysts discovered hacking attempts by APT42 against a US-based media group named Iran International, which British authorities previously said were the target of physical violence and terror threats by Iranian-linked agents.
Hultquist said the hackers commonly use mobile malware that allows them to "record phone calls, room audio recordings, pilfer SMS (text) inboxes, take images off of a machine," and gather geolocation data.
In recent months, Trump campaign officials sent a message to employees warning them to be diligent about information security, according to one person familiar with the message. The message warned that cell phones were no more secure than other devices and represented an important point of vulnerability, said the person, who requested anonymity as he was not permitted to speak to the media.
The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment. The FBI and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence both declined to comment.
The Secret Service did not answer questions about whether the Iranian hacking activity could be intended to support physical attacks planned for the future. In a statement sent to Rooters, a Secret Service spokesperson said they work closely with intelligence community partners to ensure the "highest level of safety and security" but could not discuss matters "related to protective intelligence."
APT42 also commonly impersonates journalists and Washington think tanks in complex, email-based social engineering operations that aim to lure their targeting into opening booby-trapped messages, which let them take over systems.
The group’s "credential phishing campaigns are highly targeted and well-researched; the group typically targets a small number of individuals," said Josh Miller, a threat analyst with email security company Proofpoint. They often target anti-Iran activists, news hounds with access to sources inside Iran, Middle Eastern academics and foreign-policy advisers. This has included the hacking of Western government officials and American defense contractors.
For example, in 2018, the hackers targeted nuclear workers and US Treasury Department officials around the time the United States formally withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, said Allison Wikoff, a senior cyber intelligence analyst with professional services company PricewaterhouseCoopers.
The public emergence of APT42 in the ongoing presidential race began earlier this month following a report by Microsoft MSFT.O on August 9, which said the group was attempting to hack staffers on an unnamed presidential campaign.
APT42 is still actively targeting campaign officials and former Trump administration figures critical of Iran, according to a blog post by Google’s cybersecurity research team.
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Posted by trailing wife 2024-08-25 2024-08-25 04:17||
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File under: Govt of Iran
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Posted by Procopius2k 2024-08-25 08:26||
2024-08-25 08:26||
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