Iran has clamped down on online activity seen for its influence US electionin one case targeting the presidential campaign with an email phishing attack, Microsoft said on Friday.
Iranian actors have also spent months creating fake news sites and impersonating activists, laying the groundwork to deepen divisions and potentially sway American voters this fall, especially in swing states, the tech giant found.
The findings in Microsoft’s latest threat intelligence report show how Iran, which was active in the recent US election, is developing tactics for another election that could have global implications. The report goes beyond anything disclosed by US intelligence officials, giving specific examples of the Iranian group and the actions it has taken so far. Iran’s United Nations mission has denied that it has any plans to disrupt or launch a cyber attack on the US presidential election.
The report did not specify Iran’s intentions beyond spreading chaos in the United States, although U.S. officials have previously signaled that Iran is primarily targeting former President Donald Trump. US officials have also expressed alarm over Tehran’s efforts to retaliate against a 2020 attack on an Iranian general ordered by Trump. This week, the Justice Department unsealed criminal charges against a Pakistani man with ties to Iran who was accused of plotting an assassination targeting multiple officials, potentially including Trump.
The report also reveals how Russia and China are exploiting US political polarization to advance their own divisive messaging in a crucial election year.
Microsoft’s report identifies four examples of recent Iranian activity that the company expects to increase as the November election approaches.
First, a group linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard in June targeted US presidential campaign officials with phishing emails, a form of cyber attack often used to collect sensitive information, according to the report, which did not identify the targeted campaign. . The group hid the origin of the emails by sending them from a hacked email account of a former senior adviser, Microsoft said.
A few days later, the Iranian group tried to log into the account belonging to the former presidential candidate, but was unsuccessful, the Microsoft report said. The company told the people it was targeting.
In a separate instance, an Iranian group has created a website that refers to a US-based news site targeted at voters on both sides of the political spectrum, the report said.
One fake news site that feeds a left-leaning audience insulted Trump by calling him “crazy” and suggesting he uses drugs, the report said. Another site intended to draw Republican readers’ attention to LGBTQ issues and gender-affirming surgeries.
A third example cited by Microsoft found that Iranian groups masquerading as US activists, potentially laying the groundwork for influence operations closer to the election.
Finally, another Iranian group in May compromised an account owned by a government employee in the swing state, the report said. It is not clear whether the cyberattack is related to the election interference attempt.
Iran’s UN mission sent The Associated Press an emailed statement: “Iran has been the victim of multiple offensive cyber operations targeting infrastructure, public service centers, and industry. The intention or plan to launch a cyber attack on the US presidential election is an internal matter which Iran did not interfere with.
The Microsoft report said that while Iran is increasing its cyber influence, Russian-linked actors are also building influence campaigns to focus on the US election, while actors linked to the Chinese Communist Party have taken advantage of pro-Palestinian university protests and other current events. in the US to try to raise US political tensions.
Microsoft says it continues to monitor how foreign adversaries use generative AI technology. The increasingly cheap and easily accessible devices can produce lifelike fake images, photos and videos in seconds, raising concerns among some experts that they will be used to mislead voters this election cycle.
While many countries have experimented with AI in their influence operations, the company says, the efforts have not had much impact so far. The report says that as a result, some actors have “pivoted back to techniques that have proven effective in the past – simple digital manipulation, mischaracterization of content, and the use of reliable labels or logos on top of false information.”
Microsoft’s report is in line with it a new warning from US intelligence officialswho say the enemy of America seems determined to seed the internet with false and incendiary claims ahead of the November vote.
Top intelligence officials said last month that Russia continued to be the biggest threat to election disinformation, while there were indications that Iran was stepping up its efforts and China was proceeding cautiously in 2024.
Iran’s efforts appear to be aimed at undermining candidates who appear more likely to increase tensions with Tehran, the official said. It’s a description that fits Trump, whose administration ended the nuclear deal with Iran, imposed sanctions and ordered the killing of a top Iranian general.
An update last month from officials with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security concluded that Tehran’s efforts appeared designed to undermine Trump.
“Since our last update, (the intelligence community) has observed that Tehran is working to influence the presidential election, possibly because Iran’s leadership wants to avoid an outcome that it feels will increase tensions with the United States,” said a senior ODNI official, adding, “Iran’s preference actually reflects its desire to avoid increasing tensions with the United States, and Iran against a candidate that Iran’s leadership believes will increase those tensions.
The official did not specifically mention the Trump campaign and only referred to the main findings of the 2020 assessment. He also emphasized that most of Iran’s online activity, which he said relies on a “vast web” of internet personas, has focused on creating chaos and social division.
The influence effort also coincides with a time of high tensions between Iran and Israel, which the US military strongly supports.
Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines said last month that the Iranian government was tacitly supporting the American protests. Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza. In a statement, issued on July 9, Haines said the intelligence community has “observed actors connected to the Iranian government posing as online activists seeking to encourage protests and even provide financial support to protesters.”
America’s adversaries, Iran among them, have a long history of seeking to influence US elections. In 2020, a group linked to Iran sent emails to Democratic voters in an attempt to scare them into voting for Trump, intelligence officials said.
