Microsoft uncovers more Russian political hacking
Microsoft has uncovered new Russian hacking efforts targeting U.S. political groups ahead of the mid-term elections.
The company said Tuesday that a group tied to the Russian government created fake websites that appeared to spoof two American conservative organizations: the Hudson Institute and the International Republican Institute. Three other fake sites were designed to look as if they belonged to the U.S. Senate.
Microsoft didn’t offer any further description of the fake sites, although it has previously outlined in court filings how this hacking group operated a network of fake sites designed to trick victims into installing malicious software.
Russian officials dismissed the company’s claims as unfounded. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov cited the lack of detail on the hack, and said it wasn’t clear “who the hackers in question are” and how they could distort the U.S. electoral system.
The revelation of new hacking efforts arrives just weeks after a similar Microsoft discovery led Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Missouri Democrat who is running for re-election, to reveal Russian hackers tried unsuccessfully to infiltrate her 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 this week.
Smith said there is no sign the hackers were successful in persuading anyone to click on the fake websites. 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.
The International Republican Institute is led by a board that includes six Republican senators, and Russia critic and Senate hopeful, Mitt Romney, who is running for a Utah seat this fall.