Russian, Iranian, and Chinese trolls are all ramping up their US election disinformation efforts ahead of November 5, but – aside from undermining

Putin's pro-Trump trolls accuse Harris of poaching rhinos

submited by

Style Pass

2024-10-25 06:00:34

Russian, Iranian, and Chinese trolls are all ramping up their US election disinformation efforts ahead of November 5, but – aside from undermining faith in the democratic process and confidence in the election result – with very different objectives, according to Microsoft.

In a Wednesday report [PDF], Redmond's Threat Analysis Center suggested all three nations' cyber influence operations gangs are gearing up for even more fake news and social media trolling in the final two weeks before election day. And all of this activity will likely reach a fever pitch – with an AI assist – in the final 48 hours before the US heads to the polls.

In particular, Microsoft's threat intel team expects to see Iran's Cotton Sandstorm – a hacking and cyberspy crew linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) – launch influence operations as the election nears. This seems especially likely given the group's history [PDF].

And while Cotton Sandstorm hasn't yet started spewing any fake news ahead of the vote, Microsoft claims it recently discovered that the crew had "performed reconnaissance and limited probing of election-related websites in some US swing states in April 2024," along with similar hacking attempts against "major US media outlets" a month later.