An Iranian hacking group is actively monitoring U.S. election-related websites and American media outlets as election day approaches, according to a Microsoft blog published on Wednesday. Researchers indicate that this activity suggests “preparations for more direct influence operations.”
The hackers, referred to as Cotton Sandstorm by Microsoft and linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, have conducted reconnaissance and limited probing of multiple “election-related websites” in several unnamed swing states. In May, they also scanned an unidentified U.S. news outlet to assess its vulnerabilities.
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“Cotton Sandstorm will increase its activity as the election nears given the group’s operational tempo and history of election interference,” researchers wrote. This development raises concerns due to the group’s past efforts in this area.
A spokesperson for Iran’s mission to the United Nations stated that “such allegations are fundamentally unfounded, and wholly inadmissible.” They added, “Iran neither has any motive nor intent to interfere in the U.S. election.”
In 2020, Cotton Sandstorm initiated a different cyber-enabled influence operation shortly before the last presidential election. Posing as the right-wing “Proud Boys,” the hackers sent thousands of emails to Florida residents, threatening them to “vote for Trump or else!”
The group also released a video on social media, purportedly from hacktivists, showing them probing an election system. Although that operation did not impact individual voting systems, senior U.S. officials indicated that the goal was to create chaos, confusion, and doubt. After the 2020 election, Cotton Sandstorm conducted a separate operation that incited violence against U.S. election officials who had rejected claims of widespread voter fraud, Microsoft reported. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which is leading the federal effort to safeguard the election from foreign influence, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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