Meta has revealed that Iranian hackers targeted key figures within both the Biden and Trump administrations as part of a broader campaign to infiltrate political and diplomatic circles across several countries, The Hill reported.
The tech giant reported identifying a "small cluster of likely social engineering activity" on WhatsApp, which was quickly neutralized by its security team following user reports.
Meta is the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Threads, and Messenger.
The hackers targeted Israeli, Palestinian, Iranian, U.S. and U.K. officials, according to Meta, including those linked to the current Biden and former Trump administrations. The findings align with previous reports of Iranian attempts to disrupt U.S. presidential campaigns.
Earlier this month, former President Donald Trump's campaign announced that it was hacked by Iranian actors. On Monday, the FBI and other U.S. intelligence agencies confirmed that Iran was responsible for the breach and had engaged in efforts to disrupt the ongoing presidential campaigns.
The phishing tactics employed by the hackers involved fake accounts posing as technical support for major service providers like AOL, Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft. These accounts were designed to steal login credentials from unsuspecting users.
Meta said the vigilance of users who reported suspicious messages prevented major security breaches. "We have not seen evidence that their accounts were compromised," Meta said.
In light of the threats, Meta urged public figures, journalists, political candidates, and campaigns to remain cautious. The company recommended using privacy and security settings, avoiding interactions with unknown senders, and promptly reporting suspicious activity.
The Biden-Harris campaign faced similar threats shortly before President Joe Biden withdrew from the presidential race. At least three of its staffers were targeted with phishing emails, but investigators found no evidence that the attempts were successful.
An official with Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign told NBC News, "Our campaign vigilantly monitors and protects against cyber threats, and we are not aware of any security breaches of our systems."
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.