Microsoft: Iranian hackers attacked US officials on the eve of the election

Microsoft researchers said on Friday that hackers linked to the Iranian government attempted to break into the account of a “high-ranking official” in the presidential campaign in June, weeks after breaching the account of a US state official.

The breaches were part of growing attempts by Iranian groups to influence the US presidential election, investigators said in a report that did not provide details about the “official” in question.

The report follows recent statements from senior US executives. Intelligence officials said they have seen Iran increase its use of clandestine social media accounts aimed at sowing political discord in the United States.

Iran’s mission to the United Nations in New York told Reuters in a statement that its cyber capabilities were “defensive and proportionate to the threats it faces” and that it had no plans to launch cyber attacks. “The US presidential election is an internal matter in which Iran does not interfere,” the mission added in response to the allegations in the Microsoft report.

“A group run by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) intelligence unit sent a spearphishing email to a senior presidential campaign official” and “another group with vetted links to the IRGC compromised a user account with minimum access in a regional government,” said the report.

He said the activity appeared to be part of a broader effort by Iranian groups to obtain information about the United States. He said the state employee’s account was breached in May as part of a broader “password spraying operation” — where hackers use common or leaked passwords en masse across many accounts until they manage to break into one.

The hackers were unable to access any other accounts through this breach and the targets were notified, the report added.

The researchers also said that another Iranian group was launching “secret” news sites that used artificial intelligence to extract content from legitimate news sites and targeted U.S. voters on opposite sides of the political spectrum. It named the two sites Nio Thinker – a left-leaning site – and a conservative site called Savannah Time.

When browsed on Friday, both sites had similar formats on the “About Us” page and neither listed contact details. Nio Thinker calls itself “your go-to destination for insightful, progressive news and analysis that challenges the status quo,” while Savannah Time says it is “a reflection of the values ​​that make Savannah unique” and a place “where conservative values ​​meet the vision location.”