Microsoft says it has detected more than 740 infiltration attempts by nation-state actors in the past year targeting U.S.-based political parties, campaigns and other democracy-focused organizations including think tanks and other nonprofits.
A company spokeswoman would not name or further characterize the targets. All subscribe to Microsoft’s year-old AccountGuard service. It provides free cyberthreat detection to candidates, campaigns and other mostly election-related groups.
Microsoft did not say how many infiltration attempts were successful but noted in a blog post Wednesday that such targeting similarly occurred in the early stages of the 2016 and 2018 elections.
A year ago, Microsoft said it had detected attempts to infiltrate the networks of U.S. senatorial candidates and think tanks.
Wednesday’s announcement was timed to coincide with the annual Aspen Security Forum in Colorado.
Related: New Election Systems Use Vulnerable Software
Related: Microsoft Says Russian Hackers Targeted Democratic Institutions in Europe
Related: No Smoking Gun Tying Russia to Spear-Phishing Attack, Microsoft Says
More from Associated Press
- Major Massachusetts Health Insurer Hit by Ransomware Attack, Member Data May Be Compromised
- Biden Picks New NSA Head, Key to Support of Ukraine, Defense of US Elections
- White House Unveils New Efforts to Guide Federal Research of AI
- Meta Fined Record $1.3 Billion and Ordered to Stop Sending European User Data to US
- China Tells Tech Manufacturers to Stop Using Micron Chips, Stepping Up Feud With United States
- ChatGPT’s Chief Testifies Before Congress, Calls for New Agency to Regulate Artificial Intelligence
- Philadelphia Inquirer Hit by Cyberattack Causing Newspaper’s Largest Disruption in Decades
- Executive Fired From TikTok’s Chinese Owner Says Beijing Had Access to App Data in Termination Suit
Latest News
- Industrial Giant ABB Confirms Ransomware Attack, Data Theft
- Organizations Worldwide Targeted in Rapidly Evolving Buhti Ransomware Operation
- Google Cloud Users Can Now Automate TLS Certificate Lifecycle
- Zyxel Firewalls Hacked by Mirai Botnet
- Watch Now: Threat Detection and Incident Response Virtual Summit
- NCC Group Releases Open Source Tools for Developers, Pentesters
- Memcyco Raises $10 Million in Seed Funding to Prevent Website Impersonation
- New Russia-Linked CosmicEnergy ICS Malware Could Disrupt Electric Grids
