Iranian Hackers Target US Midterm Elections

The FBI has warned that an Iranian threat group known as 'Emennet Pasargad' is preparing to interfere in  the forthcoming cycle of US midterm elections, targeting officials and companies associated with the election process, similar to what happened at the 2020 US election. At that time, the FBI said that Iran was behind the most significant foreign attempt to influence that year’s US elections. 

According to intelligence sources, Emennet Pasargad is a private Iranian organization hired by the Iranian government to interfere in U.S. elections, attacking voting-related websites and news outlets and distributing misinformation designed to undermine confidence in the U.S. electoral system

In 2020 it was found that Democrats registered to vote in Florida, which at the time made voter information publicly accessible, received intimidating emails in the weeks before the election, instructing them to become Republicans. The emails were signed “Proud Boys,” an extremist pro-Trump group. The fake emails ordered Democrat voters in Florida to switch parties and vote for the Republican candidates. The email was supposed to come from "Proud Boys." the right-wing groups of Trump supporters.  

Although Emennet Pasargad is largely dedicated to launching attacks against Israeli officials, the FBI warns the group is likely to engage in hack-and-leak operations against US interests in the upcoming mid-term elections. The group regularly engages in hack-and-leak campaigns. And the group’s activities typically involve breaches, data theft, data leaks and amplification of leaked data on social media. 

The FBI found that the group was active during the 2020 elections and are likely to reemerge in the next few weeks before the mid-terms. The FBI also noted that Emennet was linked to a cyber attack on a US organisation in 2022, which highlights that the group is still an active threat.

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