02/68 Thursday, January 2, 2025
The U.S. Department of the Treasury, under the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), has sanctioned organizations in Iran and Russia for attempting to interfere in the 2024 U.S. presidential election. The Iranian organization, the Cognitive Design and Planning Center (CDPC), operates under the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and aims to provoke societal tensions. Meanwhile, Russia’s Center for Geopolitical Expertise (CGE) collaborates with the GRU intelligence agency and uses AI to generate fake content for spreading disinformation.
Investigations in 2024 revealed that both Iran and Russia were involved in cyberattacks, disinformation campaigns, and fraudulent activities intended to sow division within U.S. society. Meta deactivated WhatsApp accounts linked to Iranian attackers, and U.S. authorities initiated criminal proceedings against IRGC personnel attempting to steal data from government officials. Additionally, Russia supported the creation of fake websites and used false identities to obscure state involvement.
The U.S. Treasury emphasized that these efforts reflect Russia’s strategy to undermine the security of the U.S. and its allies by leveraging cyber tools and fake news sources to cause political and social disruption on an international scale. The U.S. continues to implement strict measures to counter such threats.
Source https://thehackernews.com/2025/01/iranian-and-russian-entities-sanctioned.html
