Microsoft said Tuesday it is seeing synchronized Russian interference in the upcoming presidential election targeting the Harris-Walz campaign.

A new report from the tech giant’s Threat Analysis Center identified two groups aligned with the Kremlin that it said are disseminating false videos to discredit Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and stoke controversy.

What You Need To Know

  • Microsoft said Tuesday it is seeing synchronized Russian interference in the upcoming presidential election targeting the Harris-Walz campaign

  • The report identifies two Kremlin-affiliated groups that it said are disseminating false videos to discredit Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and stoke controversy

  • Following President Biden’s departure from the race, Microsoft said Russian influence operations began to evolve to target Harris with false videos

  • The report said this year’s election is the third in a row that shows a synchronized shift among Kremlin-affiliated groups to focus on undermining the Democratic candidate 90 days before the election

“In the past two months, Microsoft has observed a notable shift in Russian influence operations tactics reflecting the changing U.S. political environment,” the report said. 

The shift in focus toward the Harris-Walz campaign is “aimed at exploiting any perceived vulnerabilities in the new candidates.”

In August, Microsoft said Iran was working to undermine the Republican ticket, targeting former President Donald Trump through imposter U.S. news sites and hack-and-leak operations, as well as what it called covert social media personas. But following President Biden’s departure from the race, Microsoft said Russian influence operations began to evolve to target Harris with false videos.

It called out two groups in particular, identifying them as a Kremlin-aligned troll farm known as Storm-1516 and a newer group also associated with the Kremlin called Storm-1679. Both groups created false videos about Vice President Harris, including one that showed an attack by an alleged Harris supporter on a purported Trump rally attendee. 

Other false videos have been more personal, making up claims about Harris’s involvement in a hit-and-run traffic crash.

The report said this year’s election is the third in a row that shows a synchronized shift among Kremlin-affiliated groups to focus on undermining the Democratic candidate 90 days before the election. Because the groups use similar themes and messages, Microsoft said it believes they are being directed by Vladimir Putin’s government.

“As we inch closer to the election, we should expect Russian actors to continue to use cyber proxies and hacktivist groups to amplify their messages through media websites and social channels geared to spread divisive political content, staged videos and AI-enhanced propaganda,” the Microsoft report said. 

In addition to Russia and Iran, China is also believed to be running a foreign interference campaign in the upcoming presidential election. It has been using personas that pretend to be conservative U.S. voters to create short-form videos criticizing the Biden-Harris administration and social media accounts that create anti-Trump content, according to the report.