Russian hackers targeted and successfully breached US state and local government computer networks ahead of the US presidential election on November 3.
Russian hackers targeted and successfully breached US state and local government computer networks ahead of the US presidential election on November 3.
Government officials disclosed the hacks in a joint security advisory published by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
The officials spotted the Russian hacker group as Energetic Bear, a codename used by the cybersecurity industry. Other names for the same group also include Berserk Bear, TEMP.Isotope, Havex, Dragonfly, Koala and Crouching Yeti.
According to the officials, since February 2020, the group has been targeting dozens of US state, local, territorial and tribal (SLTT) government networks as well as aviation networks.
Earlier this month, the hackers successfully broke into an unspecified number of networks and had exfiltrated data from two of the victim servers, the agencies said in a posting on the website of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, an arm of the Department of Homeland Security.
The names of the targeted governments were not disclosed, and DHS did not immediately respond to requests. The FBI provided no further details but said in a statement that it was ”shining a spotlight on Russia’s nefarious behaviour.”
The FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said that there is no evidence that any election data has been compromised.
The Russian Embassy in Washington responded to recent comments by Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov calling such allegations “absolutely groundless.”
“However, the actor may be seeking access to obtain future disruption options, to influence US policies and actions, or to delegitimize (state and local) government entities," the alert said.
“We still remain confident that no foreign cyber actor can change votes, and that it’d be incredibly difficult for them to manipulate the outcome of the election at the national level or in any particular state,” Ken Cuccinelli, the acting deputy secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, said at a press conference.
“It doesn’t mean they won’t try to cause problems,” Mr Cuccinelli added.
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