An Iranian hacking group is actively monitoring U.S. election-related websites and U.S. media outlets in the run-up to Election Day, according to a Microsoft blog posted Wednesday. The researchers say this activity suggests “preparations for more direct influence operations.”

The hackers — dubbed Cotton Sandstorm by Microsoft and linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps — conducted reconnaissance and limited investigations of several “election-related websites” in several unnamed swing states, the report notes. In May, they also analyzed an unidentified US media outlet to understand its vulnerabilities.

“Cotton Sandstorm will increase its activity as the election approaches, given the group’s operational tempo and history of election interference,” the researchers wrote. This development is particularly concerning because of the group’s past efforts.

ALSO READ | From a North Carolina voting booth, decoding Trump’s advantage

A spokesperson for Iran’s mission to the United Nations said “such allegations are fundamentally unfounded and completely unacceptable.”

“Iran has neither motive nor intent to interfere in the US elections,” they added.

Cotton Sandstorm, an Iranian hacker group

In 2020, Cotton Sandstorm launched another cyber 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 posted a video on social media, purportedly from hacktivists, in which they showed them investigating an electoral system. Although the operation never affected individual voting systems, the goal was to sow chaos, confusion and doubt, senior U.S. officials said at the time.

After the 2020 election, Cotton Sandstorm also conducted a separate operation encouraging violence against U.S. election officials who had denied allegations of widespread voter fraud, Microsoft said.

ALSO READ | Kamala Harris’ ad shows a Texas woman who lost her baby and nearly died of sepsis amid a strict ban on abortion.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which coordinates federal efforts to defend elections against foreign influence, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.