U.S. gives detailed report on Russia’s alleged election hack

washington» The U.S. has released its most detailed report yet on accusations that Russia interfered in the U.S. presidential election by hacking American political sites and e-mail accounts.

The 13-page joint analysis on the operation, dubbed Grizzly Steppe, by the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI is the first such report ever to attribute malicious cyber activity to a particular country or actors.

It was also the first time the U.S. officially and specifically tied intrusions into the Democratic National Committee to hackers with the Russian civilian and military intelligence services, the FSB and GRU, expanding on an Oct. 7 accusation by the Obama administration.

The report said the intelligence services were involved in “an ongoing campaign of cyber-enabled operations directed at the U.S. government and its citizens.” It added, “In some cases, (the Russian intelligence services’) actors masqueraded as third parties, hiding behind false online personas designed to cause the victim to misattribute the source of the attack.”

Last summer, stolen emails from Democrats were posted by an online persona known as Guccifer 2.0, believed processes or institutions.”

The retaliation against Russia, just weeks before President-elect Donald Trump takes office, culminated months of political handwringing about how and whether to respond to Moscow’s alleged meddling. U.S. intelligence agencies concluded that Russia’s goal was to help Trump win — an assessment Trump has dismissed as ridiculous. Trump said Thursday the U.S. should move on but that he would meet with the intelligence community’s leaders next week for an update on the situation.

The report described the intelligence services’ use of “spearphishing” — fake emails intended to trick victims into typing in their user names and passwords. At least one person opened attachments with malicious software.