Iranian cyber actors are likely behind a campaign that encouraged deadly violence against U.S. state officials certifying the 2020 election results.

Part of the operation was the creation of a website revealing personal information and photos of government officials and individuals in the private sector involved in the Presidential election.

Exposing personal details

Titled “Enemies of the People,” the website was created on December 6, and by the middle of the month included personal details (home addresses, email, names, and photos with a target) of individuals that did not support the current U.S. President’s claims of voter fraud.

In a joint report today, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) say that Iranian actors are “almost certainly” behind the creation of the website (currently down), basing the assertion on “highly credible information.”

The agencies add that in mid-December 2020 the website contained death threats aimed at U.S. election officials. Among them are governors, state secretaries, former CISA Director Christopher Krebs, FBI Director Christopher Wray, and people working for Dominion, the company providing the voting systems.

Dominion has been a target of Trump supporters after the President’s lawyers made allegations that Dominion’s software switched votes for Trump to Biden.

The FBI identified multiple email accounts, some of the registered with privacy-focused services, that were used to deliver death threats to officials:

• enemiesofthepeople@tutanota.com
• 6e.nemiesOfThepeople.e9@protonmail.com
• 3e.nemiesOfThePeopl.e3@protonmail.com
• 3e.nemiesOfThePeopl.e3@gmail.com

Warnings about Iranian attempts to interfere in the U.S. Presidential election this year started pouring in October, when the the FBI and CISA published multiple alerts on the topic [1, 2, 3].

One of them refers to voter intimidation through emails purporting to be from Proud Boys far-right group that threatened recipients registered as Democrats with violence unless they voted for the Republican candidate: “Vote for Trump or Else,” read the subject line.

Even with an officially confirmed result of the election, outside effort to undermine public confidence in the electoral process and to divide the society continues.

The FBI and CISA are urging the public to check the sources of information before making an opinion and to seek verified news from trustworthy publications.