Posted on 08/21/2018 5:21:03 AM PDT by dayglored
Microsoft said Tuesday it has uncovered new Russian hacking attempts targeting U.S. political groups ahead of the midterm elections.
The company said that a hacking group tied to the Russian government created fake internet domains that appeared to spoof two American conservative organizations: the Hudson Institute and the International Republican Institute. Three other fake domains were designed to look as if they belonged to the U.S. Senate.
Microsoft didn’t offer any further description of the fake sites.
The revelation came just weeks after a similar Microsoft discovery led Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Missouri Democrat who is running for re-election, to reveal that Russian hackers tried unsuccessfully to infiltrate her Senate computer network.
The hacking attempts mirror similar Russian attacks ahead of the 2016 election, which U.S. intelligence officials have said were focused on helping to elect Republican Donald Trump to the presidency by hurting his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton.
This time, more than helping one political party over another, “this activity is most fundamentally focused on disrupting democracy,” Brad Smith, Microsoft’s president and chief legal officer, said in an interview this week.
Smith said there is no sign the hackers were successful in persuading anyone to click on the fake websites, which could have exposed a target victim to computer infiltration, hidden surveillance and data theft. Both conservative think tanks said they have tried to be vigilant about “spear-phishing” email attacks because their global pro-democracy work has frequently drawn the ire of authoritarian governments.
“We’re glad that our work is attracting the attention of bad actors,” said Hudson Institute spokesman David Tell. “It means we’re having an effect, presumably.”
The International Republican Institute is led by a board that includes six Republican senators, and one prominent Russia critic and Senate hopeful, Mitt Romney, who is running for a Utah seat this fall.
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...
Sure it’s Russians. They did it to protect GEOTUS from the Mueller staff investigating meddling in 2016. They had Dem fake websites in 2016, donchyaknow.
/snerk
Has there never been hackers before? Have not criminals attempted to lure in suckers with false web addresses even before 2016?
“Why, yes, Alas, all the time. It’s been happening ever since Berners-Lee perfected html!”
I think articles like this are totally designed to put the bug in people’s head not to trust the election, especially election won by Republicans.
Note the quote by McCaskill. She’ll lose, and blame the Russians, you watch. Not that she might be out-of-step with Missouri voters, oh no! Couldn’t be! Her opponent should stop campaigning and let her win because, Russians, right?
The media and social networking gateways are killing the Republic right before our eyes.
The damage will last long after their “enemy” Trump is gone.
They just couldn’t get over Hillary’s lose. Screw the country for choosing “wrongly”.
What are the financial connections between Social Media, the Deep State, Corrupt Intelligence Officers, Congress and the MSM.
This whole area is where the unprovable meets the inconsequential.
People who seriously worry about Russian interference in elections are the political version of germophobes, they can never stop wiping counters and such.
Microsoft should check out: cbs.com, nbc.com, abc.com, cnn.com, msnbc.com, pbs.org, npr.org etc.
Oh and do not forget: microsoft.com
Much collusion there.
Yeah, you'd think...
What you said. Exactly. It's about undercutting the elections through mistrust.
The good guys (like Microsoft, difficult as it is to imagine) are necessarily always playing catch-up. You can make software robust, but you can't make it 100% secure. So the hackers always -- ALWAYS -- have the upper hand because they act and the good guys react.
Stop them in their tracks? Easier said than done. And in many cases, impossible.
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