CISA and FBI Warn of Iranian-Backed Cyber Activity to Undermine U.S. Democratic Institutions

Fact sheet provides information on actors’ techniques and recommended mitigations for individuals and organizations associated with national political campaigns

WASHINGTON – The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) published a fact sheet today, How to Protect against Iranian Targeting of Accounts Associated with National Political Organizations. Actors affiliated with the Iranian Government’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) are using social engineering techniques across email and chat applications probably to stoke discord and undermine confidence in U.S. democratic institutions. This fact sheet provides recommended actions to protect against this malicious activity.

IRGC actors target and compromise the personal and business accounts of Americans, in particular. individuals associated with national political organizations. They also target individuals and organizations working or have worked on issues related to Iranian and Middle Eastern affairs.

CISA and the FBI recommend mitigations and best practices that will help organizations and individuals strengthen their security and resilience, including keeping applications and operating systems updated, training staff to only use official accounts for business, and implementing phishing-resistant multifactor authentication (MFA).  

“With FBI, CISA works to provide timely, actionable information that helps our partners reduce their risk from myriad threats,” said CISA Executive Assistant Director for Cybersecurity, Jeff Greene. “IRGC cyber actors pose an ongoing and escalating risk. We urge individuals and organizations associated with national political organizations or campaigns to review and implement actions in this joint fact sheet.”

The FBI and CISA continue to work closely to provide services and information to safeguard public and private sector and individuals.

For more information, please visit CISA’s Iran Cyber Threat and #Protect2024 webpages.

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As the nation’s cyber defense agency and national coordinator for critical infrastructure security, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency leads the national effort to understand, manage, and reduce risk to the digital and physical infrastructure Americans rely on every hour of every day.

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