Meta said it has shut down a small group of WhatsApp accounts linked to an Iranian hacking group that targeted officials associated with the administration of President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump.
The company explained in a blog post that the fake accounts belonged to an Iranian threat actor known as APT42, which other technologists, such as Google, have described as a state-backed cyberespionage group. The group has targeted activists, NGOs, media outlets and other figures.
The campaign also targeted people in Palestine, Iran, and the United Kingdom, and focused on exploiting political officials, diplomats, and public figures, including those associated with the Biden and Trump administrations.
As the US elections approach in November, Meta is under increasing scrutiny for its use of Facebook in previous presidential campaigns. The company confirmed that it has found no evidence that WhatsApp users’ accounts were hacked, and that it is sharing information with law enforcement and industry partners.
Meta’s security team was able to discover APT42’s involvement after analyzing suspicious messages reported by a number of users who received them from fake WhatsApp accounts.
The company said the accounts presented themselves as technical support for companies such as AOL, Google, Yahoo and Microsoft. Some of the targets reported the suspicious messages using in-app reporting tools.
Earlier this month, the Trump campaign said a foreign actor had hacked its network and illegally obtained internal communications.
Microsoft also announced that it had identified several Iranian hacking groups that were trying to influence the US presidential election, and that one group linked to APT42 sent a phishing email to a senior presidential campaign official using a hacked email from a former adviser.
In 2019, Microsoft revealed that it had identified several hackers linked to the Iranian government who were believed to have targeted an unspecified U.S. presidential campaign, as well as government officials and media outlets.
