Russian hackers aim at Senate information

WASHINGTON — The Russian hackers who stole emails from the Democratic National Committee as part of a campaign to interfere in the 2016 election have been trying to steal information from the U.S. Senate, according to a report published Friday by a computer-security firm.

Beginning in June, the hackers set up websites meant to look like an email system available only to people using the Senate’s internal computer network, said the report by Trend Micro. The sites were designed to trick people into divulging their personal credentials, such as usernames and passwords.

The Associated Press was first to write about the report.

These “spear phishing” techniques are frequently used by the Russian group, which the company dubs Pawn Storm, to read or copy emails or other private documents.

“This group is politically motivated,” said Mark Nunnikhoven, Trend Micro’s vice president for cloud security.

Trend Micro has linked the group, better known as Fancy Bear, to activities targeting political organizations in Germany and the campaign of French President Emmanuel Macron. Last year, U.S. intelligence agencies concluded that the group, which officials say is associated with Russian military intelligence, stole emails from the DNC that were subsequently provided to WikiLeaks.

“The U.S. Senate, as a target, seems to represent the next step” in the group’s ambitions, Nunnikhoven said, because it is both a political body and an institution of government.

Nunnikhoven said that his company had given information about Pawn Storm’s activities to the Senate. The Trend Micro report didn’t say whether the operation had successfully stolen information, and Nunnikhoven declined to say because the matter is being investigated.