(TheConservativeNews.org) – Tech giant Microsoft has detected numerous attempts by foreign entities to hack American political organizations, a spokesperson reported on September 11. Cyber-criminals from Russia, China, and Iran have been caught attempting to access secure data from hundreds of organizations with links to both the Joe Biden and Donald Trump election campaigns. There was also evidence of attacks on think tanks and British political parties.
One of the main organizations involved in these hacking attempts is Strontium, otherwise known as Fancy Bear. Despite alleged links between this group and Russian military intelligence, a Kremlin spokesman has denied claims that President Vladmir Putin’s government has ever attempted to interfere with a foreign election. The Chinese government has also strongly refuted claims that it was involved in this activity.
Response from US Intelligence
According to US Intelligence Community reports from August of this year, Russian hacking activity appears to be geared toward helping Trump win the election. The Chinese and Iranian groups seem to favor Biden. In response to Microsoft’s statement, a spokesperson from Homeland Security’s cyber-crime division said American intelligence services had already known about this activity. He stressed the majority of these attacks had been unsuccessful and they had had no impact on our voting systems.
Officials from both presidential campaigns also acknowledged the existence of these threats, admitting they had known they would be an issue for some time.
2016 Interference and the Mueller Report
Foreign interference was a major talking point after the 2016 election. Allegations that President Trump had cooperated with Russian hackers to help him secure his place in the White House led to the infamous Mueller investigation. While the report did unearth signs of interference, there was no evidence to implicate Donald Trump in this activity.
Microsoft’s report highlights the fact that American politics will always be a target of international criminal activity. Countries like Russia, China, and Iran, with whom we have had tense relations in the last number of years, have a vested interest in undermining our leadership. Rather than pointing the finger at certain candidates in a partisan fashion, we need to focus on ensuring our democracy is not subverted in this way.
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