Microsoft Corp said on Wednesday that it detected and attempted to stop a series of cyberattacks from Phosphorus, which the company described as an 'Iranian actor', with the attacks aimed to target over 100 high-profile individuals.

“Phosphorus, an Iranian actor, has targeted with this scheme potential attendees of the upcoming Munich Security Conference and the Think 20 (T20) Summit in Saudi Arabia”, Microsoft said in a blog, adding it believed Phosphorus is engaging in these attacks for intelligence collection purposes.

In a blog post, Tom Burt, the Corporate Vice President for Customer Security & Trust at Microsoft, said Phosphorus is engaging in these attacks for intelligence collection purposes.

"The attacks were successful in compromising several victims, including former ambassadors and other senior policy experts who help shape global agendas and foreign policies in their respective countries," he added.