A man walks past an anti-American mural on the wall of the former U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Iran, on January 21, 2020.
Nazanin Tabatabaee | Nazanin Tabatabaee Reuters
Iran is stepping up its influence campaign against the United States, Microsoft researchers say in a new reportadding to ongoing efforts by Russia and China to influence U.S. public opinion ahead of the presidential election.
Researchers discovered websites they believe were the work of an Iranian operation that targeted voters on both the political left and right. The Nio Thinker website bills itself as “the premier destination for insightful, progressive news and analysis that challenges the status quo,” and has published articles blasting former President Donald Trump and praising Vice President Kamala Harris. “Our unexpected, embarrassing savior”.
Another website discovered by researchers, Savannah Time, pretends to be a local alternative weekly with a conservative voice. “We’re opinionated, we’re loud, but we have fun,” the site’s “About” section reads. It published articles written by someone claiming to be a “spokesperson for the International Federation for Women’s Rights” advocating for more modest beach volleyball swimsuits at the Olympics, alongside articles praising Iran’s military prowess.
The Microsoft Threat Analysis Center noted that these sites may use artificial intelligence tools to extract content from legitimate U.S. news publications and repackage the articles in a way that hides the source of the content.
According to Microsoft, the group behind the sites is part of a larger Iranian operation that has been active since 2020 and that also operates more than a dozen fake news campaigns targeting English, French, Spanish and Arabic audiences. website. Researchers said the campaign was not a significant success with U.S. audiences, and the content was not widely shared on social media. But researchers say the sites could be used closer to an election.
In addition to stoking controversy and dividing Americans ahead of the vote, researchers say another group linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps sent a spear-phished letter in June targeting a “senior presidential campaign official.” Phishing email from a compromised email account of a former senior adviser and attempted to access an account belonging to a “former presidential candidate.” The report did not reveal who was targeted.
Iran’s mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment but denied reports of interference In a statement to The Associated Press: “Iran has been the victim of numerous offensive cyber operations targeting its infrastructure, public service centers and industry. Iran’s cyber capabilities are defensive in nature and proportionate to the threats it faces. Iran has neither intention nor plan Launch a cyber attack.
Microsoft’s report also points to ongoing Russian activity, including actions by a group that researchers called Storm-1516produced propaganda videos supporting Trump and Russian interests, and through Fake news website network Related to a former US police officer. China-linked actors have also increasingly turned to videos to spread propaganda and used a network of online accounts to stoke anger over pro-Palestinian university protests, the report said.
Researchers expect Iran will join China and Russia in stepping up cyberattacks on candidates and institutions and ramping up propaganda and disinformation to divide Americans ahead of the election.
