Microsoft revealed that hackers tied to the Iranian government have been trying to influence the US presidential election for months.
Researchers for the tech giant disclosed on Thursday they found multiple Iranian groups peddling polarizing messages and inflammatory posts about controversial politically-divisive issues.
According to Microsoft’s newest threat intelligence report, cybercriminals have been using covert news sites that cater to voter groups on opposing ends of the political spectrum to further alienate both sides.
One of such site that is built for Democratic Party supporters called Nio Thinker insults former President Donald Trump by calling him an ‘opioid-pilled elephant in the MAGA China shop’ and a ‘raving mad litigiosaur’.
The website, which began publishing in late October 2023, also releases numerous sarcastic and long-winded articles that berate Trump.
A website built for Democratic Party supporters called Nio Thinker insults former President Donald Trump by calling him an ‘opioid-pilled elephant in the MAGA China shop’ and a ‘raving mad litigiosaur’
On the other hand, another website named Savannah Time claims to be a ‘trusted source for conservative news in the vibrant city of Savannah’.
This website tends to heavily focus on Republican politics and LGBTQ issues – particularly gender re-assignment, a topic of great controversy among the right.
Evidence discovered by the company suggests that these sites have been using AI-enabled services to plagiarize some of their content from US publications.
Microsoft did not name the publications in its report. Notably, the report did not suggest that any attacks had been made on Vice President Kamala Harris.
Apart from this, the report also noted that an Iranian group connected to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had previously attempted to break into email account of campaign officials.
The website, which began publishing in late October 2023, also releases numerous sarcastic and long-winded articles that berate Trump
Notably, the report did not suggest that any attacks had been made on Vice President Kamala Harris as compared to her presidential rival Trump
The attackers had sent a spear phishing email back in June to a high-ranking official from the compromised email account of a former senior advisor.
This scam email ‘contained a link that would direct traffic through a domain controlled by the group before routing to the website of the provided link’.
Days after attempting to monitor traffic and access confidential information, the same group attempted to log into an account belonging to a former presidential candidate but were unsuccessful.
The deeply detailed report also noted that an Iranian group had managed to crack into the email account of a county-level government employee in a swing state.
But while the hackers were successful breaking into one, Microsoft Threat Intelligence later discovered that they were unable to gain additional access beyond the single account.
The deeply detailed report also noted that a Iranian group had managed to crack into the email account of a county-level government employee in a swing state
Researchers said Iranian groups that have historically tried to undermine trust in the electoral system had been preparing to launch influence operations since March 2024.
The findings are the latest evidence that foreign governments are conducting clandestine operations ahead of US elections in November.
Back in 2020, two Iranian men had impersonated members of the right-wing Proud Boys group as part of a voter intimidation effort, according to the FBI. They were later charged for their involvement.
In the same election year, Iranian hackers had breached a website used by a municipal government in the US to publish election results.
The attackers were caught before carrying out any nefarious activity, US cybersecurity officials later clarified.
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