The US Accuses Russia of Hacking to Influence Presidential Election

The United states of america government has formally accused Russian federation of the cyber attacks on the Democratic Party as an attempt to influence the state'south presidential ballot. The Department of Homeland Security and the Part of the Director of National Intelligence on Ballot Security released a articulation statement on Friday, accusing Russia of conveying out a wide-ranging campaign to interfere with the 2022 ballot.

The U.s.a. accuses Russia of hacks to interfere with elections

"The U.S. Intelligence Community (USIC) is confident that the Russian Government directed the recent compromises of e-mails from The states persons and institutions, including from U.s. political organizations," a joint press release from the Director of National Intelligence and Department of Homeland Security says. "The contempo disclosures of declared hacked e-mails on sites like DCLeaks.com and WikiLeaks and by the Guccifer ii.0 online persona are consistent with the methods and motivations of Russian-directed efforts." Before this week, WikiLeaks said it will release more documents relevant to the ballot in the coming weeks.

Previous reports had suggested that US intelligence agencies had found evidence that Russia was behind the hacking of computers of the Democratic National Commission and other political offices. The DNC had disclosed the intrusions in June, this year. This was followed by a formal alert from the FBI, which alerted campaign and state election offices to secure their networks and alert the bureau if any intrusions are suspected.

The investigations carried out past the Obama government suspected that Moscow hackers were behind the DNC attack. Later leaks of DNC emails, that forced the chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz to resign from the committee, also led to Russian-sponsored hackers.

"We believe, based on the scope and sensitivity of these efforts, that only Russia's senior-about officials could take authorized these activities," read the argument by the Managing director of National Intelligence James Clapper. The hacks and disclosures are "intended to interfere with the US election procedure. The Russians have used similar tactics and techniques across Europe and Eurasia [to influence public opinion]," the statement farther said.

Total press release:

The U.Due south. Intelligence Customs (USIC) is confident that the Russian Government directed the recent compromises of e-mails from United states persons and institutions, including from United states political organizations. The recent disclosures of alleged hacked e-mails on sites like DCLeaks.com and WikiLeaks and by the Guccifer ii.0 online persona are consistent with the methods and motivations of Russian-directed efforts. These thefts and disclosures are intended to interfere with the US election procedure. Such activity is not new to Moscow—the Russians have used similar tactics and techniques across Europe and Eurasia, for example, to influence public opinion there. Nosotros believe, based on the scope and sensitivity of these efforts, that simply Russia'southward senior-most officials could accept authorized these activities.

Some states have too recently seen scanning and probing of their ballot-related systems, which in virtually cases originated from servers operated by a Russian company. Even so, nosotros are not at present in a position to aspect this activity to the Russian Government. The USIC and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) assess that it would exist extremely difficult for someone, including a nation-land actor, to alter actual ballot counts or election results by cyber attack or intrusion. This cess is based on the decentralized nature of our election system in this country and the number of protections land and local election officials have in place. States ensure that voting machines are not continued to the Cyberspace, and at that place are numerous checks and balances as well as extensive oversight at multiple levels congenital into our election process.

However, DHS continues to urge state and local election officials to exist vigilant and seek cybersecurity assistance from DHS. A number of states take already done so. DHS is providing several services to land and local election officials to aid in their cybersecurity. These services include cyber "hygiene" scans of Internet-facing systems, risk and vulnerability assessments, information sharing about cyber incidents, and best practices for securing voter registration databases and addressing potential cyber threats. DHS has convened an Election Infrastructure Cybersecurity Working Group with experts across all levels of government to raise awareness of cybersecurity risks potentially affecting ballot infrastructure and the elections process. Secretary Johnson and DHS officials are working directly with the National Association of Secretaries of Land to offer aid, share information, and provide boosted resource to state and local officials.