A Microsoft report says Iran is using hackers and online disinformation to interfere in the US election.

The top line

Groups linked to the Iranian government are engaged in efforts to interfere in the U.S. presidential election through a massive online disinformation campaign and hacking to target top campaign officials, Microsoft researchers said in a report published Friday. are engaged in efforts.

Hackers backed by the Iranian military reportedly targeted a senior presidential campaign official in June. … [+]

Getty

Key facts

According to Reportan Iranian group called Storm-2035 has launched a number of fake news websites targeting voters on both the left and right with “polarizing messaging on issues such as US presidential candidates, LGBTQ rights, and the Israel-Hamas conflict.”

Examples of such sites highlighted by the report include one called “Nio Thinker,” which targets liberals by attacking Trump, and another aimed at conservatives, called “Savanah Time,” which focuses on LGBTQ issues, “specifically tend towards “gender assignment”.

Microsoft researchers say they have found evidence of these sites “using AI-powered services to plagiarize at least some of their content from US publications” and other AI tools to access search engines. To increase the

Another Iran-linked group, Safed Flood, began “organizing” election interference operations in March and specializes in impersonating social and political activist groups to “raise doubts about election integrity” and political influence. Among other things, inciting violence against individuals.

Get Forbes Breaking News text alerts: We’re launching text message alerts so you’ll always know the biggest stories shaping the day’s headlines. Text “Alerts”. (201) 335-0739 Or sign up. Here.

News peg

In addition to online disinformation, the election interference campaign also included hacking operations carried out by groups linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). In June, the IRGC-backed hacking group Mint Sandstorm used the compromised email ID of a former senior adviser to send a stinging email to an unnamed senior presidential campaign official. Spear phishing is a targeted attack that aims to steal sensitive information by forcing the victim to open a malicious link or file. In this example, the phishing email included a fake hyperlink that would direct the target to a domain controlled by the hacker before sending the target to the actual website mentioned in the link. Mint Sandstorm also unsuccessfully attempted to access the account of an unnamed former presidential candidate.

Tangent

In May, another IRGC-linked hacker group, Peach Sandstorm, compromised a user account at a county-level government in a swing state. The report notes that the compromised account was only allowed minimal access and the researchers did not observe any privilege escalation — which would have targeted more sensitive accounts or data.