US warns of last-minute Iranian and Russian election influence ops

The U.S. Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency is warning about last-minute influence operations conducted by Iranian and Russian actors to undermine the public trust in the integrity and fairness of the upcoming presidential election.

In a joint statement, CISA, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), collectively the Intelligence Community (IC), highlight cases of false information spread by the threat actors.

Russia's influence operations, which the U.S. previously attempted to curb, are now focused on swing states (states that either party has a good chance of winning in a statewide election), aiming to harm the credibility of U.S. elections.

As part of these influence operations, the threat actors created articles and videos claiming that officials in those states are planning election fraud through ballot stuffing and cyberattacks.

Additionally, they promoted a fake interview about election fraud in Arizona, claiming that people are creating fake overseas ballots or changing voter rolls to favor Vice President Kamala Harris.

"Influence actors linked to Russia, in particular, are manufacturing videos and creating fake articles to undermine the legitimacy of the election, instill fear in voters regarding the election process, and suggest Americans are using violence against each other due to political preferences, judging from information available to the IC," describes CISA.

"We anticipate Russian actors will release additional manufactured content with these themes through election day and in the days and weeks after polls close."

Iran is also highlighted as an active threat, albeit less so compared to Russia, also using fake/fabricated media to suppress voter turnout or incite violence.

Beyond election interference, CISA says Iran remains focused on revenge against certain U.S. officials for the death of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force Commander Qassem Soleimani in January 2020.

Iranians hold former President Trump accountable for this action, which is why they have been targeting his campaign with persistence over the past months.

In a separate announcement published today, the FBI warned of two instances of threat actors impersonating the law enforcement agency in fabricated videos spreading false election-related narratives intended to undermine trust in the electoral process.

"The FBI was made aware of two instances of its name and insignia being misused in promoting false narratives surrounding the election," stated the FBI.

"The first is a fabricated news clip purporting to be a terrorist warning issued by the FBI. The fabricated news clip reports falsely that the FBI purportedly stated that Americans should "vote remotely" due to a high terror threat at polling stations. This video is not authentic and does not accurately represent the current threat posture or polling location safety.

"Additionally, a fabricated video containing a fabricated FBI press release alleges that the management of five prisons in Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Arizona rigged inmate voting and colluded with a political party. This video is also not authentic, and its contents are false."

Recently, the FBI warned about multiple fraud schemes fueled by the upcoming general election and also advised the public to ignore false claims about hacked voter data or similar unsubstantiated claims forged to serve foreign interests.

In July, the CISA and the FBI noted that they expected Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) against election infrastructure to culminate as the date approaches, noting that even in the worst-case scenarios, the security of the election process won't be impacted at all.

Yesterday, CISA issued a statement of support for state and local election officials, reaffirming its commitment to assist them in managing potential operational issues, such as power outages or delays, for which contingency plans are in place.