Reading News for You: TOP-SECRET NSA REPORT DETAILS RUSSIAN HACKING EFFORT DAYS BEFORE 2016 ELECTION
VietPress USA (June 5th, 2014): This is very important and hot news about Russian Cyberattack on the U.S. Voting software just days before the 2016 Election day. Please read this publcation from The Intercept:
TOP-SECRET NSA REPORT DETAILS RUSSIAN HACKING EFFORT DAYS
BEFORE 2016 ELECTION
Matthew Cole, Richard Esposito, Sam Biddle, Ryan Grim
June 5 2017, 12:44 p.m.
RUSSIAN MILITARY INTELLIGENCE executed a cyberattack on at
least one U.S. voting software supplier and sent spear-phishing emails to more
than 100 local election officials just days before last November’s presidential
election, according to a highly classified intelligence report obtained by The
Intercept.
The top-secret National Security Agency document, which was
provided anonymously to The Intercept and independently authenticated, analyzes
intelligence very recently acquired by the agency about a months-long Russian
intelligence cyber effort against elements of the U.S. election and voting
infrastructure. The report, dated May 5, 2017, is the most detailed U.S.
government account of Russian interference in the election that has yet come to
light.
While the document provides a rare window into the NSA’s
understanding of the mechanics of Russian hacking, it does not show the
underlying “raw” intelligence on which the analysis is based. A U.S.
intelligence officer who declined to be identified cautioned against drawing
too big a conclusion from the document because a single analysis is not
necessarily definitive.
NSA Report on Russia Spearphishing
The report indicates that Russian hacking may have
penetrated further into U.S. voting systems than was previously understood. It
states unequivocally in its summary statement that it was Russian military
intelligence, specifically the Russian General Staff Main Intelligence
Directorate, or GRU, that conducted the cyber attacks described in the document:
Russian General Staff Main Intelligence Directorate actors …
executed cyber espionage operations against a named U.S. company in August
2016, evidently to obtain information on elections-related software and
hardware solutions. … The actors likely used data obtained from that operation
to … launch a voter registration-themed spear-phishing campaign targeting U.S.
local government organizations.
This NSA summary judgment is sharply at odds with Russian
President Vladimir Putin’s denial last week that Russia had interfered in
foreign elections: “We never engaged in that on a state level, and have no
intention of doing so.” Putin, who had previously issued blanket denials that
any such Russian meddling occurred, for the first time floated the possibility
that freelance Russian hackers with “patriotic leanings” may have been
responsible. The NSA report, on the contrary, displays no doubt that the cyber
assault was carried out by the GRU.
The NSA analysis does not draw conclusions about whether the
interference had any effect on the election’s outcome and concedes that much
remains unknown about the extent of the hackers’ accomplishments. However, the
report raises the possibility that Russian hacking may have breached at least
some elements of the voting system, with disconcertingly uncertain results.
The NSA and the Office of the Director of National
Intelligence were both contacted for this article. Officials requested that we
not publish or report on the top secret document and declined to comment on it.
When informed that we intended to go ahead with this story, the NSA requested a
number of redactions. The Intercept agreed to some of the redaction requests
after determining that the disclosure of that material was not clearly in the
public interest.
The report adds significant new detail to the picture that
emerged from the unclassified intelligence assessment about Russian election
meddling released by the Obama administration in January. The January
assessment presented the U.S. intelligence community’s conclusions but omitted
many specifics, citing concerns about disclosing sensitive sources and methods.
The assessment concluded with high confidence that the Kremlin ordered an
extensive, multi-pronged propaganda effort “to undermine public faith in the US
democratic process, denigrate Secretary Clinton, and harm her electability and
potential presidency.”
That review did not attempt to assess what effect the
Russian efforts had on the election, despite the fact that “Russian
intelligence obtained and maintained access to elements of multiple US state or
local electoral boards.” According to the Department of Homeland Security, the
assessment reported reassuringly, “the types of systems we observed Russian
actors targeting or compromising are not involved in vote tallying.”
The NSA has now learned, however, that Russian government
hackers, part of a team with a “cyber espionage mandate specifically directed
at U.S. and foreign elections,” focused on parts of the system directly
connected to the voter registration process, including a private sector
manufacturer of devices that maintain and verify the voter rolls. Some of the
company’s devices are advertised as having wireless internet and Bluetooth
connectivity, which could have provided an ideal staging point for further
malicious actions.
READ MORE at this Link: https://theintercept.com/2017/06/05/top-secret-nsa-report-details-russian-hacking-effort-days-before-2016-election/
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