In their newest threat intelligence report, Microsoft said Iran was accelerating online activity which appears intended to influence the upcoming US election.
ADVERTISEMENTIran is accelerating online activity which appears intended to influence the upcoming US election, Microsoft said on Friday.
Iranian actors have spent months creating fake news sites and impersonating activists, laying the groundwork to stoke division and potentially sway voters, the technology megacorporation found.
Microsoft’s most recent threat intelligence report shows how Iran is evolving its tactics for the impending election likely to have global implications.
The report goes a step beyond anything U.S. intelligence officials have disclosed, giving specific examples of Iranian groups and the actions they have taken so far. However, it does not specify Iran’s intension beyond sowing chaos.
Iran denied it had plans to interfere or launch cyberattacks in the U.S. presidential election.
Microsoft’s report also described how both Russia and China are exploiting the political polarisation within the US to advance their own divisive messaging in a massively consequential election year.
Their report identified four examples of recent Iranian activity that the company expects to increase as November’s election draws closer.
First, a group linked to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard targeted a high-ranking US presidential campaign official with a phishing email in June.
Days later, the Iranian group tried to log into an account belonging to a former presidential candidate but weren’t successfully, the report said. The company notified those targeted.
Another example included an Iranian group creating websites posing as US news sites, targeting voters on opposite sides of the political spectrum.
One fake news site insulted US presidential candidate Donald Trump by calling him “raving mad” and insinuating that he uses drugs.
In a statement, Iran’s UN mission said the following.
“Iran has been the victim of numerous offensive cyber operations targeting its infrastructure, public service centres, and industries. Iran’s cyber capabilities are defensive and proportionate to the threats it faces. Iran has neither the intention nor plans to launch cyber-attacks. The US presidential election is an internal matter in which Iran does not interfere.”
Microsoft’s findings report with recent warnings from US intelligence officials, who say foreign actors are determined to spread false claims ahead of November’s vote.