Microsoft has issued a warning that Iran is attempting to interfere in US elections, raising concerns about foreign influence and cybersecurity threats ahead of the upcoming electoral process.
According to a recent cyber intelligence report by Microsoft, there are suspicions that hackers and fake news outlets associated with Iran may be involved in malevolent activities within the United States.
On Friday, a nine-page report by Microsoft’s Threat Analysis Center (MTAC) was published stating that they have identified evidence of influence operations targeting Americans. These operations were primarily carried out by Iranians but also involved Chinese and Russian involvement.
According to the MTAC, Iranian actors have recently established a foundation for interference endeavors targeting US audiences and potentially aiming to influence the 2024 US presidential election.
Storm-2035, an Iranian network suspected of operating four news outlet websites catering to diverse parts of the American electorate, allegedly runs Savannah Time [sic]. This website devotes itself exclusively to Republican politics and publishes articles about a range of topics including LGBT issues and sex changes.
Nio Thinker, on the other hand, is inclined towards Democrats and puts out “ironic” articles that extensively criticize Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. They use derogatory terms like “raving mad litigiosaur”[sic] and “opioid-pilled elephant in the MAGA china shop.”
EvenPolitics was named as the third outlet in the group by MTAC, while the fourth remained unnamed. The company alleges that AI-powered tools were employed by these sites to copy “at least some of their content from US publications.”
MTAC has identified two hacker groups associated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in addition to fake news websites. The first group, known as Mint Sandstorm, attempted to hack into a presidential campaign by sending a spear-phishing email from an ex-senior advisor’s compromised account to a high-ranking official of the said campaign in June.
Around June 13, MTAC reported that Mint Sandstorm had made an unsuccessful attempt to access the account of a former presidential candidate. Despite typically engaging in espionage, this particular action suggests that their motives may be tied to the upcoming election season.
A different faction, labeled Peach Sandstorm or APT-33 and connected to IRGC through evaluated connections, successfully infiltrated the account of a county government located in a state that is perceived as swing during an incident this year related to racial tension which garnered national attention.
Since 2016, the US government and top-tier tech giants have alleged that Russia along with other foreign powers exerted cyberattacks and “influence operations” aimed towards eroding American elections. The only exemption was the electoral process of 2020 which both public agencies and private ventures – eventually discovered to be working in adjunction – ascertained to be “the utmost secure in American history”.
