07:45 AM EDT, 08/09/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Microsoft ( MSFT ) said Thursday that its monitoring of cyber activity "increasingly points to Iran's intent to influence" the US presidential election in November.

The company said groups connected with the Iranian government have started working on influence campaigns focused on trending election-related topics to either spark controversy or sway voters, and launched operations to gather intelligence on political campaigns.

According to Microsoft ( MSFT ), a group connected with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC, sent a phishing email in June to a high-ranking official on a presidential campaign. The same group also attempted to log into an account of a former presidential candidate, the company added.

Other groups have launched news sites using artificial intelligence for some of their content and targeted government organizations in swing states, Microsoft ( MSFT ) said.

These are contained in a new report released by the Microsoft Threat Analysis Center Friday, Microsoft ( MSFT ) added.

Price: 406.11, Change: +3.42, Percent Change: +0.85