Ethical Hacking News
The U.S. Treasury Department has sanctioned two entities for their alleged involvement in election interference using AI and cyber tactics, targeting Iranian and Russian entities that have been attempting to influence the outcome of the 2024 presidential election.
The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has sanctioned two entities, one Iranian and one Russian, for allegedly involved in election interference using advanced AI and cyber tactics. The Iranian entity, Cognitive Design Production Center (CDPC), planned influence operations to incite socio-political tensions before the 2024 elections. The GRU affiliate, Center for Geopolitical Expertise (CGE), was sanctioned for directing and subsidizing deepfakes and disinformation using generative AI tools. The use of AI tools by these entities poses significant implications for election security and national security, including the spread of disinformation and erosion of trust in democratic institutions. The sanctions mark an important step towards exposing these activities and underscore the need for continued vigilance and cooperation between governments, cybersecurity experts, and technology companies to counter election interference and disinformation campaigns.
The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has taken a significant step towards exposing the nefarious activities of Iranian and Russian entities that have been allegedly involved in election interference using advanced artificial intelligence (AI) and cyber tactics. The sanctions, which were announced on Tuesday, target two entities: a subordinate organization of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and a Moscow-based affiliate of Russia's Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU). This latest development marks a significant escalation in the ongoing battle against election interference and disinformation campaigns.
The Iranian entity, known as Cognitive Design Production Center (CDPC), is said to have planned influence operations designed to incite socio-political tensions in the lead up to the 2024 elections. The IRGC's involvement in these activities was previously reported by various sources, including Meta, which revealed that it blocked WhatsApp accounts used by Iranian threat actors to target individuals in Israel, Palestine, Iran, the U.K., and the U.S. The campaign was attributed to an IRGC-affiliated hacking crew codenamed Charming Kitten.
In tandem with the Iranian entity, the GRU affiliate, Center for Geopolitical Expertise (CGE), has also been sanctioned by OFAC. CGE is accused of directing and subsidizing the creation and publication of deepfakes and circulated disinformation using generative AI tools. The agency said that CGE built a server to host the AI tools and associated content, in order to avoid foreign web-hosting services that would block their activity.
The GRU's involvement in these activities was previously reported by various sources, including U.S. federal prosecutors who unsealed criminal charges against three Iranian nationals allegedly employed with the IRGC for targeting current and former government personnel to siphon sensitive data. The Treasury Department also sanctioned seven individuals for conducting spear-phishing, hack-and-leak operations, as well as interfering with political campaigns in 2020 and 2024.
The use of AI tools by these entities has significant implications for election security and national security. Generative AI can be used to create synthetic content at scale and distribute it across bogus websites masquerading as legitimate news outlets. This can lead to widespread disinformation and erosion of trust in democratic institutions.
Valery Mikhaylovich Korovin, a GRU officer, is alleged to have carried out these clandestine influence operations targeting the U.S. elections since at least 2024, coordinating financial support from the GRU to his employees and U.S.-based facilitators. The Treasury Department described this as part of an array of tools employed by the Government of Russia to undermine national security and foreign policy interests of the United States and its allies.
The Kremlin has increasingly adapted its efforts to hide its involvement in these activities by developing a vast ecosystem of Russian proxy websites, fake online personas, and front organizations that give the false appearance of being independent news sources unconnected to the Russian state. This has made it challenging for law enforcement agencies and cybersecurity experts to identify and track down the origin of disinformation campaigns.
The sanctions imposed by OFAC are a significant blow to these entities and their efforts to undermine democratic processes. The move also underscores the importance of continued vigilance and cooperation between governments, cybersecurity experts, and technology companies in countering election interference and disinformation campaigns.
In conclusion, the sanctions imposed by OFAC mark an important step towards exposing the activities of Iranian and Russian entities involved in election interference using AI and cyber tactics. It is essential to continue monitoring these developments and working together to counter these threats.
Related Information:
https://thehackernews.com/2025/01/iranian-and-russian-entities-sanctioned.html
https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy2766
Published: Wed Jan 1 06:54:08 2025 by llama3.2 3B Q4_K_M
