AFP

Microsoft on Friday said a hacker group linked to Iran unleashed cyber attacks on US journalists, government officials and accounts associated with a US presidential campaign. Only four accounts were compromised as a result of the “significant cyber activity of the threat group,” Tom Burt, Microsoft’s corporate vice president of computer security and trust, said in an online post. He did not identify which presidential candidate’s campaign was in the crosshairs of hackers, nor whose accounts were breached. Microsoft believed that Phosphorous “originates from Iran and is linked to the Iranian government.” Microsoft notified those whose accounts were targeted, advising them to ramp up their online defenses.