Iranian hackers attacked US officials before election - Microsoft researchers

This cyberattack occurred just weeks after the account of a US state official was compromised.

How cyberattack unfolded

The report states that a group led by the intelligence unit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) "sent a spear-phishing email to a high-ranking official of a presidential campaign," while another IRGC-linked group "compromised a user account with minimal access permissions at a county-level government."

It is also indicated that this activity is part of a broader effort by Iranian groups to gather intelligence on US political campaigns and "attack" certain states in America.

Microsoft's report reveals that the county employee's account was hacked in May as part of a wider "password spray operation", where hackers use common or leaked passwords across numerous accounts until they successfully breach one.

The report also says that the hackers were unable to gain access to any other accounts through this breach.

Researchers say another Iranian group operated "covert" news websites that used artificial intelligence (AI) to extract content from legitimate news sites. These sites targeted American voters on opposite sides of the political spectrum.

Two sites were mentioned: Nio Thinker (a left-leaning site) and Savannah Time (a conservative site).

Cyberattacks targeting US presidential election

According to Microsoft researchers, the breaches were part of attempts by Iranian groups to influence the US presidential election in November.

However, there are no details about the official mentioned in the report.

As Reuters writes, this report is one of several recent statements by senior US intelligence officials indicating an increase in Iran's use of covert social media accounts to attempt to sow political discord in the US.

Iran denies involvement in cyberattacks

Meanwhile, Iran's mission to the United Nations in New York told Reuters that its cyber capabilities are defensive and proportionate to the threats it faces. The Iranian side also claims that Tehran does not plan to carry out cyberattacks.

Responding to the allegations in the Microsoft report, the Iranian mission said that the US presidential elections are a domestic matter in which Iran does not interfere.

US cyber strategy

In May last year, the US Department of Defense developed a new strategy regarding cyberspace.

The US cybersecurity strategy document sharply criticizes Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea for their involvement in ongoing hacking and espionage campaigns.

It was also reported that about a month ago, a database containing nearly 10 billion leaked unique passwords appeared on a popular hacker forum.