Meta has recently announced that it blocked a “small cluster” of WhatsApp accounts tied to an Iranian hacking group that was targeting officials connected to President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump. The company, in a blog post, revealed that these fake WhatsApp accounts were linked to the Iranian threat actor known as APT42. This group has previously targeted activists, non-government organizations, media outlets, and others.
The scheme aimed to exploit political and diplomatic figures associated with the Biden and Trump administrations, along with individuals in Israel, Palestine, Iran, and the U.K. With less than 75 days until the November election, Meta is under increased public scrutiny regarding the potential exploitation and manipulation of social media platforms like Facebook, which it owns. However, Meta stated that there is no evidence suggesting that the targeted WhatsApp user accounts were compromised.
The security team at Meta discovered APT42’s involvement by analyzing suspicious messages reported by some users from the fraudulent WhatsApp accounts. These accounts impersonated technical support for various major companies like AOL, Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft. This incident comes after reports of a foreign actor compromising the Trump campaign’s network and Iranian hacking groups attempting to influence the U.S. presidential election.
Microsoft previously identified Iranian hackers targeting a U.S. presidential campaign in 2019, highlighting the ongoing threats of cyber-espionage in the political landscape. Meta has stated that it is cooperating with law enforcement and industry peers to address these security concerns.
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