Iran-linked hackers tried to infiltrate Trump campaign

Iran-linked hackers attempted to infiltrate President Trump's 2020 presidential campaign, Reuters reported, citing sources familiar with the operation. The report comes after Microsoft said earlier Friday that hackers took aim at accounts associated with a presidential campaign and others.

"In a 30-day period between August and September, the Microsoft Threat Intelligence Center (MSTIC) observed Phosphorous making more than 2,700 attempts to identify consumer email accounts belonging to specific Microsoft customers and then attack 241 of those accounts," a Microsoft press release said. "The targeted accounts are associated with a U.S. presidential campaign, current and former U.S. government officials, journalists covering global politics and prominent Iranians living outside Iran."

Microsoft says four accounts were compromised in the attack, none of which were associated with a presidential campaign or current or former government employees.

The attempted hack comes after Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Sept. 28 that his country would not interfere with the 2020 presidential election.

"We don’t have a preference in your election to intervene in that election," he told Chuck Todd on NBC's "Meet the Press."

Hacking has become a concern in U.S. elections after it was found that Russia tried to influence the 2016 election to help Donald Trump win the presidency. The U.S. Justice Department indicted 12 Russians for allegedly hacking the Clinton campaign and Democratic National Committee emails. Russia has denied any wrongdoing.

When reached for comment, the Republican National Party referred FOX Business to previous comments made by Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel in which she said that “any breach of our political organizations – regardless of party – is an affront to all of us, and we should come together as Americans to prevent it from ever happening again. It’s important we do all we can to safeguard our future elections.”

The Democratic National Party did not immediately respond to FOX Business’ request for comment.