Microsoft accuses Iranian hackers of cyberattacks on US officials

Microsoft cybersecurity experts said Iranian government-linked hackers tried to hack the account of a senior U.S. official in June and attempted to hack the account of a district-level official a few weeks earlier, Reuters reported.

Image source: Mubashir Khan / pixabay.com

Iran has stepped up hacking efforts against U.S. officials in an attempt to influence the results of the November election, a Microsoft report says. The Republic has also activated fake social media accounts to sow political discord in the United States, senior US intelligence officials added. Iran’s mission to the United Nations in New York said its actions in cyberspace were “defensive and proportionate to the threats it faces.”

According to Microsoft, a group of cybercriminals controlled by Iranian intelligence services sent a phishing email to a high-ranking official associated with the presidential election campaign; Another group, also allegedly linked to Iranian intelligence services, “compromised a user account with minimal access rights in the government at the district level.” The company linked this activity to a large-scale attempt by Iranian hackers to obtain intelligence on political campaigns in the United States and influence swing states.

The account hack was carried out in May as part of a large-scale “password spraying operation” in which known or stolen passwords are used on many accounts until one of them is compromised. As a result of the incident, the attackers did not hack other accounts, and the owner of the compromised account was notified about it.

Another Iranian group, according to Microsoft, launched “hidden” news sites, the materials for which were taken from bona fide resources using artificial intelligence. The targets of the project were representatives of opposing political views.