Russian, Iranian, and Chinese hackers have attempted to hack people and organizations related to the 2020 elections.
Russain hackers’ pace is still continuing and along with Russia, Iran and China have also joined this year to intrude into the political campaigns and data related to the US elections 2020.
The news was confirmed by Microsoft on Thursday and informed that the hackers have sped up their efforts to get into every detail of the election campaigns and organizations.
Cybersecurity officials of the US have said that Microsoft has detected attempts made by these hackers to intrude into email accounts of people and organizations related to the elections this year in the US.
However, there is no evidence to date that the election systems were effected.
Microsoft said that the same hacking Russian hacking group that was responsible for attacks on the Democratic presidential campaign in 2016 had recently targeted the national and state parties in the US.
The company said that the Russian hackers have evolved since 2016 and have included automatic brute force attacks this year.
Meanwhile, the Chinese hackers have targeted Democratic leader Joe Biden’s campaigns and at least one person formerly associated with Donald Trump’s administration.
The Russian group had targeted more than 200 organizations and the number of organizations targeted by China and Iran is not clear.
In between May to June this year, Microsoft said that Iranian hackers have tried to log into the accounts of the Trump administration officials and Trump’s campaign staff.
The company has already informed it alerted all those people who were targeted by hackers.
Microsoft has teams that track sophisticated hacking groups and has provided an in-depth insight into how the hackers are targeting the 2020 election.
This disclosure by Microsoft gives an important insight into foreign activity targeting campaigns as the election is just months away.
Microsoft detailed how each hacking group is targeting people tied to the 2020 election:
Russia
The Russian military intelligence group ‘Fancy Bear’ has attacked the 2016 consultants who were working with the Republican and Democratic parties and also the think tanks including the German Marshall Fund of America.
In recent months, Russia has engaged in brute force attacks and password sprays which are the two tactics that allow to automate their operations.
China
Chinese hackers have targeted unsuccessfully the Biden campaign through non-campaign email accounts belong to those associated with the election campaigns.
The hacking group also targeted academics and universities and the think tanks including the Atlantic council.
Iran
The country has a hacking group named Phosphorous and in between May to July, this company has unsuccessfully attempted to log into the official accounts of administrative officials of Donald Trump and his campaign members.
By Gayatri Yellayi
