Featured Image Credit: Getty Images/Anadolu
Topics: Donald Trump, Iran
Dan Seddon
An Iranian hacker group called 'Robert' is threatening to leak 100gb worth of stolen emails from Donald Trump's administration, forming the latest in a string of cyber attacks aimed at the White House.
Earlier this week, the hackers told Reuters they'd extracted tonnes of email material from accounts belonging to White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, lawyer Lindsey Halligan, adviser Roger Stone, and adult film star Stormy Daniels.
The contents of these emails remain a mystery right now, although Robert says it is considering selling them to interested parties.
FBI director Kash Patel responded to the threat, warning 'anyone associated with any kind of breach of national security will be fully investigated and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law'.
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Meanwhile, cyberdefence agency CISA's director of public affairs Marci McCarthy went on to tweet: "This so-called cyber 'attack' is nothing more than digital propaganda, and the targets are no coincidence.
"This is a calculated smear campaign meant to damage President Trump and discredit honourable public servants who serve our country with distinction.
"These criminals will be found and they will be brought to justice. Let this be a warning to others, there will be no refuge, tolerance, or leniency for these actions."
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The cybersecuirty threat arrives in the aftermath of America's missile strike on three Iranian nuclear sites.
American Enterprise Institute scholar Frederick Kagan, who has written about Iranian cyber espionage, said Tehran was seriously damaged and that its spies are now hitting back in ways that won't inspire further actions of violence.
"A default explanation is that everyone's been ordered to use all the asymmetric stuff that they can that's not likely to trigger a resumption of major Israeli/US military activity," he proposed.
"Leaking a bunch more emails is not likely to do that."
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In a national address given last month, Trump informed his American compatriots that the strikes were successful on Iranian soil and that if their enemy should retaliate, it'll be 'met with force far greater' next time.
"The US military carried out massive precision strikes on the three key nuclear assemblies in the Iranian regime: Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan," he revealed.
"Our objective was the destruction of Iran's nuclear enrichment capacity and a stop to the nuclear threat posed by the world's number one state sponsor of terror."
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According to NBC News, Iran warned Trump that it would activate sleeper-cell terror inside the US if it were attacked.
Sleeper cells are spies and/or terrorists that are already embedded in the target nation, yet remain inactive until given the green light to pounce. They often live quiet lives and have regular jobs, says The Independent.
The latest threat from Robert is far from the only cyber attack the White House has faced recently. Just last year, China-linked hackers went after data from Trump and JD Vance’s phones.
And back in August, 'Robert' leaked a load of emails from Trump's presidential campaign to reporters.