Researchers at Microsoft revealed today that hackers with ties to the Iranian government had attempted to breach the account of a “high-ranking official” in a U.S. presidential campaign in June with an email phishing attack, according to Microsoft’s latest threat intelligence report.
The report states, “A group run by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) intelligence unit sent a spear-phishing email to a high-ranking official of a presidential campaign” and “another group with assessed links to the IRGC compromised a user account with minimal access permissions at a county-level government.” The breaches, which occurred in May and June, were part of a broader “password spray operation” where hackers use common or leaked passwords on many accounts.
While the report does not specify the identities of the targeted officials, the hackers did not access any additional accounts, and the affected targets were notified.
The report also found that another Iranian group had created “covert” news sites using artificial intelligence to repurpose content from legitimate sources.
The purpose of the sites, called Nio Thinker and Savannah Time, was to target U.S. voters across the political spectrum.
The Nio Thinker site indicates that it is a source of “progressive news and analysis,” while Savannah Time describes itself as reflecting “conservative values and local insights,” according to the report. Both sites had similar formats and lacked contact details.
The attacks are part of the growing attempts of Iranian groups to influence the outcome of the U.S. presidential election in November, according to the report, which aligns with recent statements from senior U.S. intelligence officials who have observed an increase in Iran’s use of covert social media accounts to incite political discord in the U.S.
Iran’s mission to the United Nations in New York responded to the report stating that its cyber capabilities are “defensive and proportionate to the threats it faces.” It denied any plans to conduct cyber attacks.
“The U.S. presidential election is an internal matter in which Iran does not interfere,” the mission said.