Meta said Friday it had warned US presidential campaigns to be wary after it discovered an Iran-linked hacking attempt using the WhatsApp messaging service. The announcement is the latest from a tech giant of hacking threats ahead of the November election between Vice President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump, after Google and Microsoft earlier uncovered similar attempts attributed to Iran. WhatsApp accounts linked to an Iranian "threat actor" sent messages pretending to be technical support for AOL, Google, Yahoo or Microsoft, according to Meta.
"This malicious activity originated in Iran and attempted to target individuals in Israel, Palestine, Iran, the United States and the UK," Meta said in a post. "This effort appeared to have focused on political and diplomatic officials, and other public figures, including some associated with administrations of President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump." Accounts involved in what appeared to be "social engineering" -- duping people into providing access to networks or vital data -- were blocked, according to Meta.
An investigation linked the attempts to the same hacking group responsible for similar attacks aimed at political, military, diplomatic and other officials reported by Microsoft and Google, Meta said. "Given the heightened threat environment ahead of the US election, we also shared information about this malicious activity with law enforcement and with the presidential campaigns to encourage them.