Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - August 12, 2024, Winnipeg, Manitoba Donate Today www.movementcentre.ca/support TOP NEWS A3 MONDAY AUGUST 12, 2024 ● ASSOCIATE EDITOR, NEWS: STACEY THIDRICKSON 204-697-7292 ● CITY.DESK@FREEPRESS.MB.CA ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM Concerns mount over possible attempts by foreign powers to influence presidential race Experts warn of efforts to disrupt U.S. election A NALYSTS and intelligence ex- perts warned Sunday that wider efforts may be underway by for- eign powers to disrupt the U.S. presi- dential election, after the Trump cam- paign said it believed its email systems had been breached by hackers working for Iran. So far, two Democratic House mem- bers who have served on intelligence and security committees have called for briefings and for declassification of information related to the possible for- eign interference in the election. The Trump campaign announcement came after it received questions from news organizations about an internal vetting document on vice-presidential candidate JD Vance that had been sent to the outlets. The Washington Post was sent on Thursday the 271-page document, marked as “privileged & confidential,” from an anonymous AOL user going by the name “Robert.” Politico, which was the first to report on the Trump cam- paign’s statement, said that it had been receiving documents, including a vet- ting document on Vance, from a sender also going by the name “Robert” since July 22. The Trump campaign has pointed to a report released Friday by Microsoft in which the company said it had dis- covered evidence that Iranian hackers had tried to break into the email ac- count of a “high-ranking official” on a U.S. presidential campaign in June, which was around the same time Vance was selected as Trump’s running mate. The company has declined to name the campaign but a person familiar with Microsoft’s work confirmed that the report’s reference was to the Trump campaign. U.S. officials have not confirmed the campaign was hacked and the cam- paign did not provide evidence of the breach or Iranian involvement. Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), a top Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee’s cybersecurity subcommittee, said that he was seek- ing a briefing from the Department of Homeland Security. “Yes, Trump is the most despicable person ever to seek office. He also sought foreign hacking in a past elec- tion. But that doesn’t mean America ever tolerates foreign interference,” he posted on X. Former chair of the House Intelli- gence Committee, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) urged officials to quickly de- classify any information on the possible foreign nature of the hack reported by the campaign. “In 2016, the Intelligence Commun- ity moved much too slow to proper- ly identity the hacking and dumping scheme carried out by Russia to div- ide Americans and benefit the Trump campaign,” he posted on X. “The IC has since made improvements, but should act quickly here.” He also called on both parties to con- demn the reported hack. “In 2016, the Trump campaign wel- comed Russian interference, took ad- vantage of it and then sought to deny it, much to the detriment of the country,” he said. The Harris-Walz campaign has not responded to multiple requests for com- ment. Since 2016, Democratic campaigns and affiliated organizations have put an emphasis on enhanced security protocols and heavily invested to shore up systems to guard against hacks and other cybersecurity threats. Donald Trump, the Republican nom- inee for president, said on his social media platform Truth Social that his campaign was informed by Microsoft that one of their websites was hacked by the Iranian government. He also claimed that only publicly available in- formation was taken. “We were just informed by Microsoft Corporation that one of our many web- sites was hacked by the Iranian Gov- ernment — Never a nice thing to do!” he posted on Saturday. “They were only able to get publicly available information but, neverthe- less, they shouldn’t be doing anything of this nature. Iran and others will stop at nothing, because our Government is Weak and Ineffective, but it won’t be for long.” Microsoft and other security com- panies say that an Iranian group behind the June attack on a presidential cam- paign is run by the Iranian Revolution- ary Guard Corps. Microsoft did not confirm the Trump campaign was the target but the tech giant said on Friday that Iranian hack- ers took over a former adviser’s email account and sent a phishing message with a malicious link to a senior official still inside the campaign. The Iranian hacking group used the same technique in 2021 against the press secretary for a U.S. official, ac- cording to email security provider Proofpoint. But the group also has cus- tom malware that can be used in more subtle attacks. Proofpoint researcher Joshua Mil- ler said that the Iranian group is very actively targeting U.S. politicians and campaign staff. He said multiple Iran- ian groups impersonate journalists to approach targets. The document that was sent to The Post was an internal campaign write- up of Vance’s potential political vulner- abilities, dated Feb. 23, that had been commissioned by the campaign from the law firm Brand Woodward. While it drew from public records and news clips, the vetting report itself was an in- ternal document not previously public. On Saturday, a spokesperson for the National Security Council said the Biden administration “strongly con- demns any foreign government or en- tity who attempts to interfere in our electoral process or seeks to undermine confidence in our democratic institu- tions.” The FBI said in a statement on Sat- urday that the agency was aware of the media reports and had no comment. The news of the hack broke during Def Con, the annual hacking and secur- ity conference that draws tens of thou- sands to Las Vegas in summer. Many of the attendees interviewed expressed dread at what might lie ahead. They speculated that if Iranian hack- ers were involved, they may have taken more files than what news organiza- tions have reported, with plans to drib- ble out other material to mainstream or less reputable news sites, including the surging number filled mainly with pla- giarized content from elsewhere. “‘Pink slime’ and fake sites are in their repertoire, so it’s possible that information gets posted in other fora if U.S. media outlets hold back,” Chris Krebs, the founding head of the Cyber- security and Infrastructure Security Agency, which dealt with misinforma- tion about the 2020 election, said in an interview with The Post. “It’s possible they do both.” Earlier, Krebs wrote a post on X speculating that actors may be trying to repeat what happened during the 2016 campaign, when U.S. intelligence concluded that Russia interfered in the election by hacking and leaking inter- nal Democratic documents. “Someone is running the 2016 playbook, expect continued efforts to stoke fires in so- ciety and go after election systems — 95 per cent votes on paper ballots is a strong resilience measure, combined with audits. But the chaos is the point,” he wrote. Some experts in email security said publicly available email exchange re- cords indicate the campaign staff’s email accounts weren’t well protected. As one indicator, it had not enabled a common system called DMARC, which would confirm that an email sender from a Trump address was actually part of the campaign. While Iranian cyber operations have become more sophisticated and aggres- sive since the 2020 election cycle, for- mer U.S. officials said they pale next to Russia, which might have also breached one or more campaigns by now. Most professionals said they expect more hacks and leaks as the election draws closer, with the big unknown be- ing how the public and media react to minor nuggets. “Unfortunately, this isn’t the ‘new normal.’ It’s just normal,” said Jake Braun, who recently left the White House after serving as acting principal deputy national cyber director. A spate of recent government and industry reports have pointed to in- creased propaganda about the election from Russia as well as Iran and chan- nels that are used to push political viewpoints can be used to spread data from hacks. — The Washington Post ABBIE CHEESEMAN Harris backs ending taxes on tips, weeks after Trump made similar pledge U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris is echoing an idea first proposed by her opponent, Donald Trump, by pledging that she would push to eliminate taxes on tips. “When I am president, we will con- tinue our fight for working families of America, including to raise the min- imum wage and eliminate taxes on tips for service and hospitality workers,” Harris said during a campaign rally Saturday at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas. It was the last stop for Harris and her running mate on the Democratic ticket, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, as they toured swing states, including Nevada, where the service industry is a major employer. Leisure and hospitality is the main industry in the Las Vegas metro- politan area, accounting for over a quarter of total employment in January 2023, according to the Nevada Office of Workforce Innovation. Many service workers were enthusi- astic when Trump made a similar pro- posal at a rally in the same city two months ago. “For those hotel workers and people that get tips, you’re going to be very happy. Because when I get to office, we are going to not charge taxes on tips,” Trump said. After Harris’s announcement, Trump said in a post on his social media platform that Harris “copied my NO TAXES ON TIPS Policy,” add- ing that “She has no ideas, she can only steal from me.” The idea of scrapping taxes on tips for some workers is not new and unions representing service and hospitality workers have been pushing for it for years. Still, some of those unions ex- pressed skepticism that Trump would be able to implement the idea when he proposed it. Ted Pappageorge, secre- tary-treasurer for Culinary Workers Union Local 226 — which endorsed Harris and Walz ahead of Saturday’s event — previously said the Culinary Union has “fought for tipped workers’ rights and against unfair taxation” for decades. “Relief is definitely needed for tip earners, but Nevada workers are smart enough to know the difference between real solutions and wild campaign prom- ises from a convicted felon,” Pappa- george said in a statement, referring to Trump’s New York conviction on char- ges related to a hush money payment. The hospitality workers union Unite Here, which also endorsed Harris, likewise downplayed Trump’s pledge. Union President Gwen Mills told The Associated Press that Trump was “making a play” for votes. As The Washington Post has re- ported, under current law, all gratuities that workers receive must be taxed at the same rate as their regular income and many employers report their work- ers’ tips to the Internal Revenue Ser- vice — but much is paid in cash and never reported. More than 6 million workers had tips reported to the IRS in 2018, the most recent year for which complete data is available. Tips are crucial for many hospital- ity and service workers. The federal government and many states allow employers to pay tipped workers well below the normal minimum wage, provided they make up the difference to ensure each worker earns at least the standard federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. When President Joe Biden was still running for reelection, he called for eliminating the lower tipped minimum wage and increasing the minimum wage for all workers. — The Washington Post ANNABELLE TIMSIT RICK BOWMER / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILES Donald Trump said on his social media platform Truth Social that his campaign was informed by Microsoft that one of their websites was hacked by the Iranian government. He claimed that only publicly available information was taken. ;