Influence operations by Iranian hackers against the upcoming U.S. elections have ramped up in recent months as part of efforts to manipulate voters, particularly those in the swing states, according to The Record, a news site by cybersecurity firm Recorded Future.
Attacks by Iranian state-sponsored operations involved not only the infiltration of accounts belonging to a campaign official or a county government but also the creation of fake news sites with stories aimed at fueling disinformation and controversy among voters in certain states, a Microsoft Threat Intelligence Report revealed. Such an analysis — which Microsoft emphasized was released to increase awareness about foreign interference and not support a particular candidate — comes after Iran was observed to have sought to influence the 2020 U.S. polls with the state-backed Pioneer Kitten hacking group found to have its attempted compromise of a city's election infrastructure foiled by the U.S. Cyber Command and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
