Skip to main content

Russian hackers accessed 2 US voter databases


American intelligence officials say hackers based in Russia are to blame for two recent attempts to breach voter registration databases in a US state.
In the two attempts, data from as many as 200,000 voter records in the US state of Illinois was stolen, the officials told NBC News.
They said that the incidents fueled concerns that the Russian government might be seeking to interfere in the US presidential election.
One of the officials claimed that "there is serious concern" that Moscow was trying to create uncertainty in the US presidential election process.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the attacks were attributed to Russian intelligence services.
"This is the closest we've come to tying a recent hack to the Russian government," the official said.
The attacks caused the FBI to issue a "flash alert" to election officials nationwide earlier this month. The agency urged them to remain vigilant in the face of any similar cyber intrusions.
"The FBI is requesting that states contact their Board of Elections and determine if any similar activity to their logs, both inbound and outbound, has been detected," the alert said.
Meanwhile, two other officials said that US intelligence agencies are not certain yet that the Russian government may be wanting to hack into voter records.
However, they said it was not clear whether the hackers were planning a covert intelligence operation aimed at destabilizing the US political process.
The incident was first reported by Yahoo News and the alert provided IP addresses linked to the hack attempts, but it did not mention Russia.
According to the FBI alert, one of the IP addresses was associated with both breaches.
US officials have previously expressed concerns about Russia's involvement in the hacking of the Democratic Party organizations.
Under a worst-case scenario, Russia's sophisticated hackers could attack financial systems, power grids and other critical infrastructure, the intelligence officials said earlier this month.
Russia has denied responsibility for hacking the emails of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and a computer network used by Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's campaign ahead of the November vote.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

General Qasem Soleymani's letter to the Secretary of Defense of the United States of America

In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate Obama has sent a rude and threatening Letter to Imam Khamenei (d.z) , Iran's Supreme Leader. Few days later Imam Khamenei (d.z) proclaimed that he replied to Obama's threatening letter. People were eager to know about the answer but no one was aware of the letter's content. Cmdr. Qasem Soleimani sent a letter to the Secretary of Defense of the United States of America, a letter that may help us to find out about the content of the Supreme Leader's letter. The so-called letter made Americans furiously angry so that the United State Congress issued Cmdr's assassination. To find out how important was this action, it would be interesting to describe the procedure through which the letter was received by The Secretary of Defense United States Department Of War includes seven protective filters four of which are specifically designed to monitor data sent to secretary of defense. . Sending a letter ...

Iran, Turkey, Qatar mull land route amid Saudi crisis

Turkey seeks to establish a land route via Iran for trade with Qatar which has relied on both countries for sourcing food since a diplomatic crisis broke out with Saudi Arabia. Turkish Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci on Saturday was in Tehran where he was expected to discuss using Iran’s land route to facilitate trade with Qatar, Anadolu quoted him as saying. "We're thinking about alternatives for land trade routes with Qatar but the easiest way is passing through Iran," Zeybekci said, according to the news agency.  He traveled to Tehran to attend the swearing-in of President Hassan Rouhani along with delegates from around the world. It was not immediately clear who was representing Qatar in the ceremony.  Turkey has used a land, air and sea blockade imposed on Qatar by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt to flood the tiny peninsula in the Persian Gulf with its goods but Zeybekci said using cargo planes to carry products was no...

Yemeni tribes joind hands to counter Saudi aggression

Yemeni tribes in different provinces have joined forces to counter the deadly Saudi aggression against their country, vowing revenge for the blood of the innocent. In the northwestern province of Hajjah, the tribes of the Sharafein district expressed their readiness to deploy forces to the battleground in response to a call issued by the tribes of Khulan and Sanhan, Yemen’s al-Masirah television reported on Saturday. Bani Sara tribe in al-Shaqadreh also said that it was prepared to team up with Khulan al-Tayal tribe to score a victory against the Riyadh regime and take revenge for the recent Saudi carnage in the capital, Sana’a, which was denounced by rights groups as a war crime. Sana’a saw one of the deadliest Saudi attacks on October 8, when the regime’s warplanes bombarded a funeral hall packed with mourners in the capital city, killing more than 140 people and injuring at least 525 others. The tribe of Sanhan in Sana’a put 300 troops equipped with arms on ale...