US Presidential Election Hacks Revealed

A leaked top-secret National Security Agency document indicates that Russian hacking efforts around the US presidential election were much broader and more pervasive than originally known, and certainly state-sponsored.

The intelligence document was published by online news outlet The Intercept, just hours before the Justice Department announced charges against a 25-year-old government contractor named Reality Winner for leaking the information.

The document, which was heavily redacted during the process of the Intercept verifying its authenticity with the DoJ, indicates that Russian Military Intelligence executed several spear-phishing attempts against at least 100 state and local voting officials in the week prior to Election Day. It also mounted a cyber-attack on at least one US voting software supplier.

Officials speaking on background to the Intercept noted that there is no evidence that actual election outcomes were affected by the meddling.

However, the document concludes that the situation "raises the possibility that Russian hacking may have breached at least some elements of the voting system, with disconcertingly uncertain results."

The report said that the Russian plan was to gain access to systems at an e-voting vendor, in order to gather information needed to convincingly pose as a representative from that company.

From there, the hackers would send spoof emails purporting to be from the vendor, in an attempt to trick voting officials into opening infected Microsoft Word documents. Those documents in turn would execute malware that would have given the hackers control over the local voting division’s network.

The Report reads:

“Russian General Staff Main Intelligence Directorate actors … executed cyber espionage operations against a named US company in August 2016, evidently to obtain information on elections-related software and hardware solutions. … The actors likely used data obtained from that operation to … launch a voter registration-themed spear-phishing campaign targeting US local government organisations.”

The news comes shortly after Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested that “patriotically minded” private Russian hackers may have been behind the election-season hacking. However, the CIA and other organizations have said that it’s clear that the Kremlin was directly involved, a claim the NSA document backs up.

“The insider threat landscape usually breaks down into three pieces: Malicious insiders, negligent insiders and compromised insiders,” said Morgan Gerhart, vice president at Imperva, via email. “To mitigate the risk, corporations should ask themselves where their sensitive data lies, and invest in solutions that directly monitor who accesses it and how.”

Winner, meanwhile, was arrested in her home recently. The NSA contractor admitted to printing out the document and mailing it to the Intercept. She was easy to track down, being just one of six individuals who had printed the document. She faces a single charge of "gathering, transmitting or losing defense information."

“According to reports, the leaker was identified because of strong audit trails of who accessed what,” said Gerhart. “They can invest in solutions that help them pinpoint critical anomalies that indicate misuse of enterprise data stored in databases, file servers and cloud apps and that also help them to quickly quarantine risky users in order to proactively prevent and contain data breaches. This approach works across careless, compromised and malicious insiders.”

InfoSecurity:

You Might Also Read:

Vladimir Putin & Donald Trump: Relationship Counselling:

Both US Presidential Campaigns Hacked:

 

« US Blames North Korea For Hacking
WannaCry Prompts Microsoft Updates … And A Warning »

CyberSecurity Jobsite
Perimeter 81

Directory of Suppliers

The PC Support Group

The PC Support Group

A partnership with The PC Support Group delivers improved productivity, reduced costs and protects your business through exceptional IT, telecoms and cybersecurity services.

MIRACL

MIRACL

MIRACL provides the world’s only single step Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) which can replace passwords on 100% of mobiles, desktops or even Smart TVs.

IT Governance

IT Governance

IT Governance is a leading global provider of information security solutions. Download our free guide and find out how ISO 27001 can help protect your organisation's information.

Practice Labs

Practice Labs

Practice Labs is an IT competency hub, where live-lab environments give access to real equipment for hands-on practice of essential cybersecurity skills.

LockLizard

LockLizard

Locklizard provides PDF DRM software that protects PDF documents from unauthorized access and misuse. Share and sell documents securely - prevent document leakage, sharing and piracy.

Digital Forensics Inc (DFI)

Digital Forensics Inc (DFI)

Digital Forensics Inc. is a nationally recognized High Technology Forensic Investigations and Information System Security firm

Gigamon

Gigamon

Gigamon provides intelligent Traffic Visability solutions that provide unmatched visbility into physical & birtual networks without affecting the performance or stability of production environments.

QA

QA

QA is a leading IT training provider in the UK with over 1,500 courses covering all areas of IT including Cyber Security.

Sqreen

Sqreen

Sqreen is a web application security monitoring and protection solution helping companies protect their apps and users from attacks.

United Biometrics

United Biometrics

United Biometrics is an anonymous and real-time authentication platform designed to stop the fraud for mobile payments, e-Commerce and applications.

YouWipe

YouWipe

Scandinavian Data Erasure Leader YouWipe is the number one choice of European Ministries, European Central Banks, Swiss Pharmaceuticals and Major Electronics Retail Chains.

Clear Thinking Solutions

Clear Thinking Solutions

Clear Thinking is an IT Solutions company specialising in secure & compliant technical services.

Proximity

Proximity

Proximity is a leading professional services organisation providing consulting, legal and commercial advisory solutions with a focus on government and regulated industries.

NASK SA

NASK SA

NASK SA is an integrator of telecommunications services. We provide advanced ICT security services, collocation and hosting, data centre services, and build corporate networks.

Kyndryl

Kyndryl

Kyndryl has a comprehensive portfolio that leverages hybrid cloud solutions, business resiliency, and network services to help optimize your IT workloads and transformations.

CYDEF

CYDEF

CYDEF provides comprehensive, state-of-the-art cybersecurity protection that is accessible and affordable to organizations of any size.

FTCYBER

FTCYBER

FTCYBER offers the latest technology and data recovery services to identify and extract data from computers and other digital devices.

Sentryc

Sentryc

Sentryc provides automated monitoring of brands on online marketplaces and social media making online brand protection processes faster, more clearly structured and more efficient.

Port-IT

Port-IT

Port-IT is a leading partner in cybersecurity solutions tailored for the maritime industry.

CompassMSP

CompassMSP

CompassMSP deliver Managed IT and cybersecurity solutions designed to unleash your business's full potential.

Cyber Grant

Cyber Grant

Cyber Grant excel in designing cybersecurity solutions for data protection. Our approach and vision, centered on ease-of-use, establish us as a benchmark in the industry for safeguarding information.