Iranian Hacker Group Cotton Sandstorm Reportedly Integrating AI into Cyber Influence Operations
May 2, 2023
The Iranian state-sponsored group Cotton Sandstorm, linked to the IRGC, has integrated generative AI into cyber influence operations. In December 2023, it launched Operation “For Humanity," using AI-crafted messaging to hijack a U.S.-based IPTV streaming service with propaganda about the Israel-Hamas conflict. The group also engages in election-related reconnaissance, which suggests they used AI-enhanced influence efforts ahead of the 2024 U.S. election.
- Alleged deployer
- islamic-revolutionary-guard-corps-(irgc), government-of-iran, cotton-sandstorm
- Alleged developer
- unknown-generative-ai-developers, islamic-revolutionary-guard-corps-(irgc), government-of-iran, cotton-sandstorm
- Alleged harmed parties
- u.s.-elections, political-candidates, media-organizations, general-public-of-the-united-states, electoral-integrity, democracy, american-voters
Source
Data from the AI Incident Database (AIID). Cite this incident: https://incidentdatabase.ai/cite/971
Data source
Incident data is from the AI Incident Database (AIID).
When citing the database as a whole, please use:
McGregor, S. (2021) Preventing Repeated Real World AI Failures by Cataloging Incidents: The AI Incident Database. In Proceedings of the Thirty-Third Annual Conference on Innovative Applications of Artificial Intelligence (IAAI-21). Virtual Conference.
Pre-print on arXiv · Database snapshots & citation guide
We use weekly snapshots of the AIID for stable reference. For the official suggested citation of a specific incident, use the “Cite this incident” link on each incident page.