Microsoft uncovers more Russian hacking

Microsoft has uncovered new Russian hacking efforts targeting US political groups ahead of the midterm elections.

The company said yesterday that a group tied to the Russian government had created fake websites that appeared to spoof two American conservative organisations: the Hudson Institute and the International Republican Institute.

Three other fake sites were designed to look as if they belonged to the US Senate.

Russian officials dismissed the claims as unfounded.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov cited a lack of detail on the hack and said it was not clear “who the hackers in question are” and how they could distort the US electoral system.

The revelation arrives weeks after a similar Microsoft discovery led Senator Claire McCaskill, a Missouri Democrat, to reveal that Russian hackers had tried to infiltrate her Senate computer network.

The hacking attempts mirror similar Russian attacks before the 2016 election, which US intelligence officials said were focused on helping to elect Republican Donald Trump to the presidency by hurting his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton.

This time, “this activity is most fundamentally focused on disrupting democracy,” Brad Smith, Microsoft’s president, said this week.

Mr Smith said there was no sign the hackers had persuaded anyone to click on the fake websites, which could have exposed a target victim to computer infiltration, surveillance and data theft.

Both conservative think tanks said they had 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 autumn.

The group’s president, Daniel Twining, said the apparent hacking was “consistent with the campaign of meddling that the Kremlin has waged against organisations that support democracy and human rights.”