Iranian hackers targeted 2020 US presidential campaign, Microsoft finds
- Tech giant also discovered ‘significant’ digital activity by group dubbed ‘Phosphorous’ against officials, journalists and prominent Iranians outside Iran
- Senior US intelligence officials have warned that coming election will be targeted not just by Russian hackers, but face possible interference by Iran and China
This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Martin Matishak on politico.com on October 4, 2019.
Hackers linked to the Iranian government have targeted the campaign of at least one 2020 presidential contender, Microsoft announced in a blog post on Friday.
The technology giant also witnessed “significant” digital activity by the group, which it dubbed “Phosphorous”, against current and former US government officials, journalists covering global politics and prominent Iranians living outside Iran.
Senior intelligence officials have warned that the upcoming election will be targeted not just by Russian hackers, but face possible interference by Iran and China. In July, Microsoft reported that Russian and Iranian hackers had carried at least 800 cyberattacks on political organisations.
In a 30-day period between August and September, Phosphorous made more than 2,700 attempts to identify consumer email accounts belonging to specific Microsoft customers and then attacked 241 of those accounts, according to the company.