A group of Iranian hackers is actively monitoring US election-related websites and US media outlets in the run-up to Election Day, with activities suggesting preparations for more “direct influence operations”, according to a blog from Microsoft released Wednesday.

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 battleground states, according to the report. In May, they also analyzed an unidentified US media outlet to understand its vulnerabilities.

US Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate, will face her Republican rival Donald Trump in the November 5 presidential election, in which polls suggest an extremely close race.

“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, they said.

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

“Iran has no motive or intent to interfere in the US elections,” the spokesperson said.

In 2020, Cotton Sandstorm launched another cyber influence operation shortly before the last presidential election, according to U.S. officials. 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, purporting to be from activist hackers, 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.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which coordinates U.S. federal efforts to protect elections from foreign influence, referred Reuters to an earlier statement that said: “Foreign actors – particularly Russia, Iran and China – remain determined to fuel divisions. speeches intended to divide Americans and undermine their confidence in the American democratic system. »