Traditional enemies of the U.S. seem to reaffirm their disdain for the West every so often just to remind us that they still hate us.
According to a blog published Friday on tech giant Microsoft’s website, hackers linked to Iran “targeted” and “attacked” consumer email accounts “belonging to specific Microsoft customers,” including “a U.S. presidential campaign, current and former U.S. government officials, journalists covering global politics and prominent Iranians living outside of Iran.”
Tom Burt, the Corporate Vice President of Customer Security & Trust for Microsoft, also wrote the following concerning the “threat group” Phosphorus, which is a hacker group Microsoft believes “originates from Iran and is linked to the Iranian government”:
In a 30-day period between August and September, the Microsoft Threat Intelligence Center (MSTIC) observed Phosphorus making more than 2,700 attempts to identify consumer email accounts belonging to specific Microsoft customers and then attack 241 of those accounts[…]
Four accounts were compromised as a result of these attempts; these four accounts were not associated with the U.S. presidential campaign or current and former U.S. government officials. Microsoft has notified the customers related to these investigations and threats and has worked as requested with those whose accounts were compromised to secure them.
The reporting of this possible Iranian-led hack into U.S. Microsoft accounts comes after Iran reportedly boosted their cyber activity following “last month’s Saudi oil field attacks, believe to have been carried out by Iran."
“Iran has been aggressive over the past several years when it comes to cyberattacks,” founder and CEO of TrustedSec and former U.S. military intelligence analyst David Kennedy told Fox News. “Its back is against the wall, and it has less to lose from a cyberwar with the United States.”
It’s been almost a year-and-a-half since President Donald Trump pulled the U.S. out of the Iran nuclear deal, which saw the Iranian parliament burn a U.S. flag and chant “death to America” less that 24 hours later.
Longer than yours truly has been alive, Iran has been a vocal enemy of the U.S. It doesn’t look that will be changing anytime soon.
H/T: Daily Mail