WASHINGTON – Donald Trump has become the first presidential candidate facing simultaneous actions from two foreign adversaries: one that is hacking the election to support him and another aiming to bring him down, according to former U.S. officials and cybersecurity experts.

“Russia is backing Trump, while Iran is not interested in his success. That’s evident,” said Mike Hamilton, a security advisor and former cybersecurity official, to YSL News.

The situation is ongoing as U.S. intelligence agencies strive to track and counteract the various tactics being employed by Moscow and Tehran against American voters.

Much of their covert activities focus on influencing voters through deep fakes, fake influencers, and other misleading information on social media, similar to previous election cycles.

However, there are greater targets behind the secure systems of both Trump’s and Kamala Harris’ campaigns.

U.S. officials and cybersecurity experts report that Iran executed a complex “spear phishing” campaign to acquire and leak an internal dossier on Trump’s potential running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, to major news outlets.

In a similar fashion, Russia employed a malicious email phishing scheme to assist Trump in his rise to the GOP nomination eight years ago, overcoming relative obscurity and defeating Democrat Hillary Clinton.

But a significant difference exists this election: While Russia continues to support Trump, Iran is leveraging tactics from Moscow’s 2016 campaign, allegedly hacking and leaking potential scandals and communications from Trump’s own campaign, reflecting concerns over his strict policies towards Iran’s ambitions and nuclear undertakings.

“The knowledge that foreign governments are interfering in our elections is undoubtedly alarming,” said Adam Marrè, a former FBI Special Agent who specialized in cyber investigations, focusing on foreign influence in the U.S.

“While this might not be the first election with multiple foreign governments attempting to sway or undermine candidates, I believe it’s the first one where we are acutely aware of their actions in real-time,” Marrè told YSL News.

The Trump campaign has not yet commented on the reported foreign hacking rivalry.

Currently, Russia has not made any “hack and leak” activities public in this election cycle, unlike Iran. Yet, as noted by former cybersecurity official Chris Krebs, there is still considerable time left until election day.

“Get ready,” Krebs, the former director of the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, tweeted last Saturday following the revelations of the Trump campaign’s hacking incident.

“Someone is utilizing the 2016 strategy,” Krebs said, adding that we should “expect ongoing efforts to escalate tensions in society and target electoral systems. … We need to brace ourselves for what might come.”

Krebs referred to “the Russification of Iranian information operations” as a troubling new element in foreign attempts to impact U.S. elections.

“Regardless of how you feel about the individual involved, the adversaries are indifferent to your preferences,” Krebs remarked about Trump, who dismissed Krebs from his position after he stated that the 2020 election was the most secure in U.S. history—a claim Trump tried to contest.

However, Krebs warned, “They have their agendas, and you’re just the target. Take this issue seriously.”

Trump Hack vs. Hillary Hack

The Trump campaign acknowledged it experienced a hacking incident on the same day Politico disclosed that it had received emails from an untraceable source containing sensitive documents from within Trump’s campaign, which included information about potential vice-presidential candidates.

Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung stated, “The Iranians are aware that President Trump will put an end to their terror, as he did during his first term. Any news organization sharing these internal documents is acting in favor of America’s adversaries.”

Shortly prior, Microsoft’s security team had revealed an Iranian hacking attempt, coinciding with warnings from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) regarding Iran’s intentions to intervene in the upcoming U.S. presidential election.

Major news outlets, including The Washington Post and The New York Times, have also reported receiving similar documents, but none has yet published information from these stolen materials.

This situation has led supporters of Hillary Clinton to express dissatisfaction, claiming unfair treatment as numerous outlets published compromising information that was leaked from Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta’s email accounts just weeks before the election in 2016.

While Iran aims to undermine the former president and Republican nominee, U.S. intelligence believes Russia is attempting to influence the election on Trump’s behalf.

In various press briefings this year, officials from the ODNI have avoided directly identifying nations targeting specific candidates to aid or harm them.

They also noted that Russia, Iran, China, and possibly other nations are likely to interfere in the election to create rifts within the American populace.

However, in a briefing in July, a U.S. intelligence representative informed reporters, “We have not noticed any change in Russia’s interests regarding the presidential race compared to previous elections, especially given U.S. involvement in Ukraine and broader policy issues with Russia.”

Trump has repeatedly criticized U.S. military support for Ukraine, indicating that he might significantly reduce or entirely stop American aid if he regains the presidency.

Adam Hickey, who previously oversaw the Justice Department’s national security division to combat Russian election influence before entering private practice in May 2023, discussed the conflicting goals of Russian and Iranian hackers targeting the Trump campaign, signaling the start of espionage conflicts during U.S. elections.

“It’s plausible to envision a future election where both campaigns suffer hacks and leaks from various nations, and that might become our new normal,” Hickey remarked.

His primary worry is not that these election hacks will sway voters enough to change the election outcome, but rather that “the presence of foreign interference might lead people to doubt the election results and erode trust in the democratic process,” Hickey expressed.

Recently, the FBI acknowledged that it is looking into accusations of Iranian cyber operatives breaching Trump’s campaign. Meanwhile, the Harris campaign disclosed it too faced a thwarted spear-phishing attack, as reported by The Washington Post.

As Hamilton noted, “Every nation has an interest in these elections. Whether they take a bold approach like Iran or operate subtly like Russia, all are striving for a favorable outcome.”