Russia-linked hackers are targeting US think tanks and political organizations in the run-up to the 2018 US mid-term elections, Microsoft revealed Monday night.

The company's Digital Crimes Unit (DCU) last week executed a court order to take control of six internet domains created by a group called Strontium (aka Fancy Bear or APT28), which is linked to the Russian government, Microsoft President Brad Smith wrote in a blog post. Those domains include: my-iri.org, hudsonorg-my-sharepoint.com, senate.group, adfs-senate.services, adfs-senate.email, and office365-onedrive.com.

The domains disrupted last week appear to mimic the International Republican Institute (IRI), politically conservative Washington, D.C. think tank Hudson Institute, and the US Senate. Smith said Microsoft has no evidence they were used in any successful attacks.

Microsoft has used the same approach a dozen times in two years to shut down 84 fake websites associated with this group, Smith said. The attackers create websites and URLs that look nearly identical to legit sites their targeted victims would visit or expect to receive email from.

"We're concerned that these and other attempts pose security threats to a broadening array of groups connected with both American political parties in the run-up to the 2018 elections," Smith wrote. "As a special master appointed by a federal judge concluded in the recent court order obtained by DCU, there is 'good cause' to believe that Strontium is 'likely to continue' its conduct. In the face of this continuing activity, we must work on the assumption that these attacks will broaden further."

As the Washington Post reports, the Hudson Institute has investigated corruption in Russia, while the IRI promotes democracy around the globe, efforts the Russian government would likely want to undermine.

The recent pattern of attacks "mirrors the type of activity we saw prior to the 2016 election in the United States and the 2017 election in France," he added.

To further help prevent meddling attempts in the November midterm elections, Microsoft today introduced a new initiate called AccountGuard.

"This initiative will provide state-of-the-art cybersecurity protection at no extra cost to all candidates and campaign offices at the federal, state and local level, as well as think tanks and political organizations we now believe are under attack," Smith explained. The company is offering this extra protection to candidates, campaign offices, and "related political institutions" using Office 365.