Google: State-backed hackers targeted Trump, Biden campaigns

Google said it discovered attempts by an Iran-backed group looking to attack President Trump’s campaign and efforts by a Chinese group targeting the campaign of presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joseph R. Biden.

Shane Huntley, Google’s Threat Analysis Group director, tweeted that Google alerted the affected users on the various campaigns with a government attack warning. Mr. Huntley tweeted that there was “no sign of compromise” of the targeted users, which a Google spokesperson confirmed.

A Google spokesperson said the phishing attempts were aimed at the personal emails of the campaigns’ staffers.

“We sent the targeted users our standard government-backed attack warning, and we referred this information to federal law enforcement,” the spokesperson said in an email. “We encourage campaign staff to use extra protection for their work and personal emails, and we offer security resources such as our Advanced Protection Program and free security keys for qualifying campaigns.”

The Advanced Protection Program at Google involves specific additional security measures for users at high-risk for attempted attacks by sophisticated attackers.

The Trump campaign said Friday it had been briefed that foreign actors unsuccessfully attempted to breach the technology of its campaign.

“We are vigilant about cybersecurity and do not discuss any of our precautions,” a Trump campaign spokesperson said.

Mr. Biden’s campaign told ABC it was aware of unsuccessful attacks on its staffers’ personal emails, and it was prepared for and expected such attacks to occur.

The publicly revealed attempt by U.S. adversaries with Chinese and Iranian backing represents an escalation in foreign interference attempts in the election.

While Russia’s attempted interference in the 2016 presidential campaign took center stage after the election, more scrutiny on foreign interference efforts could reveal a broader picture of the threats faced by campaigns in 2020.