Microsoft says Iran increasing cyber activity to influence U.S. election

Iran is increasing its internet activity that appears intended to influence November’s U.S. presidential election, according to a new report from Microsoft. 

As part of the efforts, hackers with ties to the Iran government tried breaking into the account of a high-ranking official on a U.S. presidential campaign in June through a phishing email, the report said. The hackers already managed to breach the account of a county-level U.S. official in a swing state.

Microsoft expects Iranian actors to employ cyberattacks against institutions and candidates in the future, while also stepping up their efforts to amplify divisive issues within the U.S., like racial tensions, economic disparities, and gender-related issues. Microsoft said that Russia and China are also using U.S. political polarization to advance their own messaging. 

“We share intelligence like this so voters, government institutions, candidates, parties, and others can be aware of influence campaigns and protect themselves from threats,” Clint Watts, general manager of the Microsoft Threat Analysis Center, said in a press release. “Our goal in releasing these reports is to underscore the importance of combating election deepfakes and promoting education and learning about possible foreign interference.”

The tech giant said that in recent weeks, groups with ties to the Iranian government have increased two kinds of online activity. First, Microsoft said, they’ve laid the groundwork for influence campaigns on trending election-related topics and have begun to start those campaigns, hoping to stir up controversy or sway voters. That includes creating fake news websites, filled with artificial intelligence-generated content, that target voter groups on opposing ends of the political spectrum. 

Second, the groups have launched operations designed to gain intelligence on political campaigns in order to help influence elections in the future. That includes the phishing attempt, as well as another unsuccessful attempt to log into an account belonging to a former presidential candidate. 

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