“Over the past two months, Microsoft has seen significant changes in the tactics of Russia’s influence operations, which reflect the changing political environment in the United States,” said Clint Watts, head of Microsoft’s Threat Analysis Center.
Russia has targeted the Harris campaign, spreading fabricated videos and disinformation.
In the US presidential elections in November, Vice President Harris will run from the Democratic Party and ex-President Donald Trump – from the Republican Party. The current US President Joe Biden was originally the Democratic Party’s nominee, but in July he announced he would not run for re-election, and Harris became the Democratic nominee.
“Microsoft” has concluded that after Biden’s withdrawal from the election campaign, Russia was not immediately able to adapt its influence operations to the new situation, but in late August and early September, two hacker groups – “Storm-1516” and “Storm-167” – began to distribute videos with the aim of discrediting Harris and sow controversy surrounding her campaign.
One video purportedly showed Harris supporters attacking a Trump rally attendee, while another falsely claimed Harris was involved in a traffic accident after which she fled.
Microsoft warned that as the election approaches, Russia will increasingly use hackers to spread disinformation and propaganda through websites and social networks.
2024-09-18 17:16:24