Russian hackers targeted U.S. Senate and conservative think tanks according to Microsoft

Reuters informs, that according to Microsoft Corp hackers linked to Russia’s government sought to launch cyber attacks on U.S. political groups, warning that Moscow is broadening attacks ahead of November’s congressional elections.

Mictosoft officials have revealed that among the targeted think tanks were the International Republican Institute, whose board members include Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona, Mitt Romney, a former presidential candidate; and the Hudson Institute.

“We’re concerned that these and other attempts pose security threats to a broadening array of groups connected with both American political parties in the run-up to the 2018 elections,” Microsoft President Brad Smith said in a blog post.

“This is another demonstration of the fact that the Russians aren’t really pursuing partisan attacks, they are pursuing attacks that they perceive in their own national self-interest,” said Eric Rosenbach, the director of the Defending Digital Democracy project at Harvard University said to The Washington Post. “It’s about disrupting and diminishing any group that challenges how Putin’s Russia is operating at home and around the world.”

On the same day, U.S. imposed new sanctions on two Russians, one Russian company and one Slovakian company for what Washington said were their actions to help another Russian company avoid sanctions over the country’s malicious cyber-related activities.

Prepared by Marina Muradyan