Meta has identified possible hacking attempts on the WhatsApp accounts of US officials from the administrations of both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump by the same Iranian hacker group which had been revealed earlier this month to have compromised the Trump campaign.
The company in a blog post on Friday described the attempt as a "small cluster of likely social engineering activity on WhatsApp."
"This malicious activity originated in Iran and attempted to target individuals in Israel, Palestine, Iran, the United States and the UK.
"This effort appeared to have focused on political and diplomatic officials, and other public figures, including some associated with administrations of President Biden and former President Trump," the company said.
After users reported the activity as suspicious, it blocked the account, it said. No evidence was seen that suggested the targeted WhatsApp accounts had been compromised.
Meta attributed the attack to APT42, also known as UNC788 and Mint Sandstorm, a hacking group believed to be associated with an intelligence division inside Iran's military.
The hacking involved planting surveillance software on the target device to record calls, gather text messages, and silently turn on cameras and microphones, according to researchers who follow the group.
The Facebook and WhatsApp parent did not name the individuals targeted, saying only that the hackers "appeared to have focused on political and diplomatic officials, business and other public figures, including some associated with administrations of President Biden and former President Trump."
Earlier in the month, Trump's presidential campaign had claimed its internal communications were targeted by Iran-based actors in reprisal to the former president's hardliner stance on the West Asian nation.
The claim, made by Trump on his app Truth Social, came in the wake of news website Politico revealing it had been approached by an anonymous source with the offer of Trump campaign documents, including a report on Trump's running mate JD Vance.
"These documents were obtained illegally from foreign sources hostile to the United States, intended to interfere with the 2024 election and sow chaos throughout our Democratic process," Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung had then said in a statement, according to Reuters.
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