The US Department of Justice has collected two Iran’s hackers for their involvement in the disinformation campaign that target American voters ahead of the presidential election 2020. In October last year, Seyyed Kazemi and Sajjad Kashian allegedly sent emails that threatened to Democrat voters in Florida where they threatened physically They if they don’t choose former President Donald Trump. When the first incident occurred, US National Intelligence Director held a press conference to warn the e-mail voter.
In addition, Kazemi and Kashian are suspected of trying to break down 11 website registration and state voter information. In one example, Doj accused them of successfully downloading information of more than 100,000 state voters. They may also have conducted disinformation campaigns on Facebook who saw them, among other individuals, Republican Senators and members of Congress. They claim that they are volunteers with proud boys and say they have evidence of the Democratic Party planning to exploit security vulnerabilities in the selection system to edit ballots.
Kazemi and Kashian’s efforts to influence the election peaked on November 4 when they were suspected of trying to hack the US media company network. They were unsuccessful because the FBI had warned the company on time.
“This indictment detailed how two Iran-based actors conducted a targeted and coordinated campaign to erode the trust in the integrity of the US election system and sowing disputes between America,” said the Assistant Prosecutor General Matthew G. Olsen from the DOJ National Security Division in a statement. “The accusation illustrates how the foreign disinformation campaign operates and seeks to affect the American public.”
US officials told Washington Post, they believed two hackers are currently in Iran, showing that they may not face authority in the near future. Doj also did not directly link their actions to the Iranian government.
