The USA sanctioned six Iranians and one Iranian cyber firm on Thursday for making an attempt to sow discord forward of the 2020 US presidential election, because the Division of Justice introduced it had indicted two of the Iranians for his or her alleged involvement.
Between August and November 2020, a bunch of state-sponsored Iranian cyber actors obtained or tried to acquire voter data from 11 state election web sites, in accordance with a five-count indictment unsealed in a New York federal court docket. Prosecutors accused Seyyed Mohammad Hosein Musa Kazemi, 24, and Sajjad Kashian, 27, of participation within the cyber marketing campaign, which included efficiently hacking the pc system of an unidentified US state and downloading knowledge on greater than 100,000 of that state’s voters.
In addition they despatched 1000’s of emails purporting to be from the white nationalist Proud Boys group to registered Democrats threatening bodily hurt if they didn’t change events and vote for then-President Donald Trump, prosecutors mentioned.
The emails, which included the recipients’ names and addresses, learn partly: “We’re in possession of all of your data (electronic mail, handle, phone … all the pieces). … You’ll vote for Trump on Election Day or we’ll come after you. … I’d take this significantly if I have been you.”
In response to court docket paperwork, Kazemi and Kashian additionally posed as Proud Boys volunteers in emails to Republican members of Congress, Trump marketing campaign employees, White Home advisers and members of the media. Their emails claimed Democrats have been planning to take advantage of “severe safety vulnerabilities” in state voting websites to “edit mail-in ballots and even register nonexistent voters.”
The day after the election, the defendants additionally allegedly tried unsuccessfully to make use of stolen credentials to realize entry to the community of an unidentified media firm, which had been tipped off by the FBI. Prosecutors additionally say they “created and disseminated a video containing disinformation about purported election infrastructure vulnerabilities.”
“This indictment particulars how two Iran-based actors waged a focused, coordinated marketing campaign to erode confidence within the integrity of the US electoral system and to sow discord amongst People,” mentioned Assistant Legal professional Common Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Division’s Nationwide Safety Division.
“The allegations illustrate how international disinformation campaigns function and search to affect the American public,” he added.
Additionally on Thursday, the Treasury Division sanctioned Iranian cyber firm Emennet Pasargad and its supervisor, Mohammad Bagher Shirinka, for main the tried affect marketing campaign. The Treasury additionally designated 5 Iranian nationals who allegedly took half, together with Kazemi and Kashian, who the Justice Division described as “skilled Iran-based pc hackers” working as contractors for Emennet.
“By taking this motion, the US authorities demonstrates that we’ll maintain state-sponsored actors to account for making an attempt to undermine public confidence within the electoral course of and US establishments,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken mentioned in a press release Thursday.
The State Division introduced it’s offering a reward of as much as $10 million for data on Kazemi and Kashian’s actions.
