{"id":166465,"date":"2021-11-18T17:05:53","date_gmt":"2021-11-18T22:05:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/breaking911.com\/?p=166465"},"modified":"2021-11-18T17:05:53","modified_gmt":"2021-11-18T22:05:53","slug":"10m-reward-iranian-hackers-charged-with-2020-voter-intimidation-campaign-that-included-state-election-site-breach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/breaking911.com\/10m-reward-iranian-hackers-charged-with-2020-voter-intimidation-campaign-that-included-state-election-site-breach\/","title":{"rendered":"$10M REWARD: Iranian hackers charged with 2020 voter intimidation campaign that included state election site breach"},"content":{"rendered":"
Iranians Posing as \u2018Proud Boys\u2019 Members Charged in U.S. Election Meddling<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
An indictment was unsealed in New York today charging two Iranian nationals for their involvement in a cyber-enabled campaign to intimidate and influence American voters, and otherwise undermine voter confidence and sow discord, in connection with the 2020 U.S. presidential election.<\/p>\n
According to court documents, Seyyed Mohammad Hosein Musa Kazemi (\u0633\u06cc\u062f \u0645\u062d\u0645\u062f \u062d\u0633\u06cc\u0646 \u0645\u0648\u0633\u06cc \u06a9\u0627\u0638\u0645\u06cc), aka Mohammad Hosein Musa Kazem, aka Hosein Zamani, 24, and Sajjad Kashian (\u0633\u062c\u0627\u062f \u06a9\u0627\u0634\u06cc\u0627\u0646), aka Kiarash Nabavi, 27, both of Iran, obtained confidential U.S. voter information from at least one state election website; sent threatening email messages to intimidate and interfere with voters; created and disseminated a video containing disinformation about purported election infrastructure vulnerabilities; attempted to access, without authorization, several states\u2019 voting-related websites; and successfully gained unauthorized access to a U.S. media company\u2019s computer network that, if not for successful FBI and victim company efforts to mitigate, would have provided the conspirators another vehicle to disseminate false claims after the election.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis indictment details how two Iran-based actors waged a targeted, coordinated campaign to erode confidence in the integrity of the U.S. electoral system and to sow discord among Americans,\u201d said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department\u2019s National Security Division. \u201cThe allegations illustrate how foreign disinformation campaigns operate and seek to influence the American public. The Department is committed to exposing and disrupting malign foreign influence efforts using all available tools, including criminal charges.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAs alleged, Kazemi and Kashian were part of a coordinated conspiracy in which Iranian hackers sought to undermine faith and confidence in the U.S. presidential election,\u201d said U.S. Attorney Damian Williams for the Southern District of New York. \u201cWorking with others, Kazemi and Kashian accessed voter information from at least one state\u2019s voter database, threatened U.S. voters via email, and even disseminated a fictitious video that purported to depict actors fabricating overseas ballots. The United States will never tolerate any foreign actors\u2019 attempts to undermine our free and democratic elections. As a result of the charges unsealed today, and the concurrent efforts of our U.S. government partners, Kazemi and Kashian will forever look over their shoulders as we strive to bring them to justice.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe FBI remains committed to countering malicious cyber activity targeting our democratic process,\u201d said Assistant Director Bryan Vorndran of the FBI\u2019s Cyber Division. \u201cWorking rapidly with our private sector and U.S. government partners and ahead of the election, we were able to disrupt and mitigate this malicious activity \u2013 and then to enable today\u2019s joint, sequenced operations against the adversary. Today\u2019s announcement shows what we can accomplish as a community and a country when we work together, and the FBI will continue to do its part to keep our democracy safe.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to the allegations contained in the indictment unsealed today:<\/p>\n
The Voter Intimidation and Influence Campaign<\/u><\/em><\/p>\n
Starting in approximately August 2020, and proceeding until November 2020, Kazemi, Kashian, and other co-conspirators began a coordinated, campaign to undermine faith and confidence in the 2020 presidential election (the \u201cVoter Intimidation and Influence Campaign\u201d) and otherwise sow discord within U.S. society. The Campaign had four components:<\/p>\n
\n
- In September and October 2020, members of the conspiracy conducted reconnaissance on, and attempted to compromise, approximately 11 state voter websites, including state voter registration websites and state voter information websites. Those efforts resulted in the successful exploitation of a misconfigured computer system of a particular U.S. state (\u201cState-1\u201d), and the resulting unauthorized downloading of information concerning more than 100,000 of State-1\u2019s voters.<\/li>\n
- In October 2020, members of the conspiracy, claiming to be a \u201cgroup of Proud Boys volunteers,\u201d sent Facebook messages and emails (the \u201cFalse Election Messages\u201d) to Republican Senators, Republican members of Congress, individuals associated with the presidential campaign of Donald J. Trump, White House advisors, and members of the media. The False Election Messages claimed that the Democratic Party was planning to exploit \u201cserious security vulnerabilities\u201d in state voter registration websites to \u201cedit mail-in ballots or even register non-existent voters.\u201d The False Election Messages were accompanied by a video (the \u201cFalse Election Video\u201d) carrying the Proud Boys logo, which purported, via simulated intrusions and the use of State-1 voter data, to depict an individual hacking into state voter websites and using stolen voter information to create fraudulent absentee ballots through the Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP) for military and overseas voters.[1]<\/sup><\/a><\/li>\n
- Also in October 2020, the conspirators engaged in an online voter intimidation campaign involving the dissemination of a threatening message (the \u201cVoter Threat Emails\u201d), purporting to be from the Proud Boys, to tens of thousands of registered voters, including some voters whose information the conspiracy had obtained from State-1\u2019s website. The emails were sent to registered Democrats and threatened the recipients with physical injury if they did not change their party affiliation and vote for President Trump.<\/li>\n
- On Nov. 4, 2020, the day after the 2020 U.S. presidential election, the conspirators sought to leverage earlier September and October 2020 intrusions into an American media company\u2019s (Media Company-1) computer networks. Specifically, on that day, the conspirators attempted to use stolen credentials to again access Media Company-1\u2019s network, which would have provided them another vehicle for further disseminating false claims concerning the election through conspirator-modified or created content. However, because of an earlier FBI victim notification, Media Company-1 had by that time mitigated the conspirators\u2019 unauthorized access and these log-in attempts failed.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Background on Kazemi and Kashian<\/u><\/em><\/p>\n
Kazemi and Kashian are experienced Iran-based computer hackers who worked as contractors for an Iran-based company formerly known as Eeleyanet Gostar, and now known as Emennet Pasargad. Eeleyanet Gostar purported to provide cybersecurity services within Iran. Among other things, Eeleyanet Gostar is known to have provided services to the Iranian government, including to the Guardian Council.<\/p>\n
As part of his role in the Voter Intimidation and Influence Campaign, Kazemi compromised computer servers that were used to send the Voter Threat Emails, drafted those emails, and compromised the systems of Media Company-1. Kashian managed the conspirators\u2019 computer infrastructure used to carry out the Voter Threat Emails campaign and he purchased social media accounts in furtherance of the Voter Intimidation and Influence Campaign.<\/p>\n
Kazemi and Kashian are both charged with one count of conspiracy to commit computer fraud and abuse, intimidate voters, and transmit interstate threats, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison; one count of voter intimidation, which carries a maximum sentence of one year in prison; and one count of transmission of interstate threats, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. Kazemi is additionally charged with one count of unauthorized computer intrusion, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison; and one count of computer fraud, namely, knowingly damaging a protected computer, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.<\/p>\n
Concurrent with the unsealing of the indictment, the Department of the Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated Emennet Pasargad, Kazemi, Kashian, and four other Iranian nationals comprising Emennet Pasargad leadership pursuant to Executive Order 13848, \u201cImposing Certain Sanctions in the Event of Foreign Interference in a United States Election.\u201d Additionally, the Department of State\u2019s\u00a0Rewards for Justice Program<\/a>, is offering a reward of up to $10 million for information on or about the Kazemi and Kashian\u2019s activities.<\/p>\n
The FBI\u2019s Cyber Division and Cleveland Field Office are investigating the case.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Iranians Posing as \u2018Proud Boys\u2019 Members Charged in U.S. Election Meddling An indictment was unsealed in New York today charging two Iranian nationals for their involvement in a cyber-enabled campaign to intimidate and influence American voters, and otherwise undermine voter confidence and sow discord, in connection with the 2020 U.S. presidential election. According to court […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3507,"featured_media":114040,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n
$10M REWARD: Iranian hackers charged with 2020 voter intimidation campaign that included state election site breach - Breaking911<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n