Hackers linked to the Iranian government have targeted the campaign of at least one 2020 presidential contender, Microsoft announced today in a blog post.
The technology giant also witnessed “significant” digital activity by the group, which it dubbed “Phosphorous,” against current and former U.S. government officials, journalists covering global politics and prominent Iranians living outside of 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 organizations.
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 attack 241 of those accounts, according to the company.
Four accounts were successfully hacked, but none of them were associated with a presidential campaign, or current or former U.S. official.
“It is important that we all — governments and private sector — are increasingly transparent about nation-state attacks and efforts to disrupt democratic processes,” said Tom Burt, Microsoft’s vice president of customer security and trust.