U.S. authorities found no evidence that hackers affiliated with foreign governments were able to block voters from voting, alter votes, interfere with the counting or timely transmission of election results, alter technical aspects of the voting process, or otherwise compromise the integrity of voter registration or ballot information submitted during the 2020 federal election.
This is reported in a joint report by the US Department of Justice (including the FBI) and the Department of Homeland Security (including the Cyber and Infrastructure Security Agency).
According to the report, "as part of Russia's and Iran's extensive campaigns against critical infrastructure, the security of several networks to manage some election functions was indeed compromised. But it had no meaningful impact on the integrity of voter data, the ability to vote, the counting of votes, or the timely transmission of election results. Iran's claims to undermine public confidence in the U.S. election infrastructure were false or exaggerated".
However, experts have identified several incidents in which malicious actors linked to the governments of Russia, China and Iran significantly affected the security of networks linked to U.S. political organizations, candidates and campaigns during the 2020 federal election. In most cases, it is unclear whether the attackers sought access to the networks for foreign political interests or for operations related to election interference.
In a number of cases, the attackers collected at least some information that they might have published in order to exert influence. However, no evidence of publishing, modifying or destroying this information was found.
"We found no evidence (either through intelligence gathering on the foreign attackers themselves, through monitoring the physical security and cybersecurity of voting systems across the country, or through post-election audits or any other means) that a foreign government or other parties compromised the election infrastructure to manipulate the election results," the report authors summarized.
The New York Times previously reported that the United States plans to carry out cyber attacks on the internal systems of the Russian authorities within the next three weeks
Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow is concerned about the report of possible cyber attacks by the United States. He also called the accusations of the US State Department of Russia spreading misinformation about foreign vaccines absurd.
Mr. Peskov commented on The New York Times report on the impending cyberattacks on the internal systems of the Russian authorities in response to the attack on SolarWinds. A Kremlin spokesman called it "alarming information" that appeared in a "fairly reputable American publication."
Dmitry Peskov said that "this is nothing but international cybercrime." "Of course, the fact that the publication admits the possibility that the American state may be involved in this cybercrime is a reason for our extreme concern," Mr. Peskov told reporters during a press call.
He also commented on the statement of the official representative of the US State Department, Ned Price, that four Russian online platforms run by the Russian intelligence services spread misinformation about vaccines approved in the United States. "We do not understand the reasons for such statements. We will continue to patiently explain that such reports are completely absurd," said Dmitry Peskov. "We have always been against politicizing any issues related to the vaccine in any way," added the Kremlin spokesman.
Mr. Peskov also said that the Russian vaccine "Sputnik V" is constantly criticized without any serious grounds. “The Russian vaccine is criticized on a daily basis with an attempt to pretend to be objective or without any attempts to pretend to be objective - just sweeping criticism. We've always been against it. The Russian Federation has not participated and is not going to participate in such an information campaign against any other vaccines," stated Dmitry Peskov.
Recall that on Sunday, The New York Times, citing sources in the US administration, reported that the US plans to carry out a series of cyberattacks on the internal systems of the Russian authorities over the next three weeks in response to an attributed hacker attack through SolarWinds software.
A court in the United States has sentenced Ukrainian citizen Alexander Musienko to more than seven years in prison for participating in an online money-laundering scheme that legalized millions of dollars.
The suspect admitted his guilt in electronic fraud. On February 11, the court sentenced him to 87 months in prison (more than seven years). In addition, a citizen of Ukraine is obliged to pay more than $98.7 thousand in compensation.
As follows from the materials of the case, from 2009 to 2012, the 38-year-old Alexander Musienko from Odessa collaborated with computer hackers from Eastern Europe in order to get more than $3 million from the bank accounts of American companies. These funds were eventually stolen and legalized using bank accounts abroad.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, he legalized funds stolen by hackers in the United States. This task was entrusted to private individuals whom Musienko hired by fraud to perform the duties of financial assistants. They transferred the stolen funds to their bank accounts at the agreed time and immediately transferred them to third-party accounts registered outside the United States.
So, in September 2011, Musienko's financial assistants, who were sure that they were working for a legitimate business, hacked the online accounts of the North Carolina company and transferred a total of almost $296.3 thousand to two bank accounts controlled by Musienko.
The Department added that Musienko was arrested in South Korea in 2018 and extradited to the United States in 2019. Around April 2019, the FBI investigated the information on Musienko's laptop. As a result, files containing about 120 thousand payment card numbers and associated identification information were found.
A former ADT technician situated in Dallas has pleaded guilty to secretly accessing the security feed of more than 200 clients to watch them undress and take part in sexual activity, as indicated by federal prosecutors. Telesforo Aviles, 35, conceded in plea papers to hacking into the accounts in excess of 9,600 times throughout four and a half years, the U.S. Lawyer's Office for Northern District of Texas said in an official statement on Thursday.
Launched in 2018, Parler has become a place of refuge for individuals that have been prohibited or suspended by popular social networks including Facebook and Twitter for abusing those stages guidelines. The Henderson, Nevada–based organization has named itself as a free speech option in contrast to mainstream social networks and adopted a more loosened up approach to content moderation, attracting conspiracy theorists, members of hate groups, and right-wing activists who have transparently induced violence.
The Federal Court of the Southern District of New York sentenced Russian Andrey Tyurin to 12 years in prison for committing a number of cybercrimes. In addition, he was ordered to pay the United States 19 million dollars
The Russian Consulate General in New York is in contact with law enforcement agencies in the United States in the case of the Russian Andrei Tyurin, who was sentenced by the court to 12 years in prison for cybercrime, said the press secretary of the diplomatic mission Alexey Topolsky.
According to him, the conditions of detention of the Russian citizen were difficult in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Topolsky recalled that Tyurin contracted the coronavirus in an American prison.
"The Russian Consulate General in New York is monitoring the case of Andrei Tyurin and is in contact with US law enforcement agencies," said Topolsky.
In his last speech, Tyurin said that he sincerely repents for what he did.
According to the judge, Tyurin must reimburse the United States 19 million 214 thousand 956 dollars, this is the profit that he derived from his criminal activities.
By US standards, a 12-year sentence is not the harshest for such a crime, says international lawyer Timur Marchani.
"In the United States, for crimes related to cybersecurity, for crimes that entail hacking the banking system, some of the harshest penalties are provided. Here, the court took into account first of all the hacker's remorse and, most importantly, cooperation with the preliminary investigation authorities and then with the court," said Mr. Marchani.
Recall that the Russian was detained in Georgia at the request of the United States in December 2017. In September 2018, he was extradited to the United States. In September 2019, the Turin pleaded guilty to six counts of the indictment.
According to the investigation, Tyurin participated in a "global hacking campaign" against major financial institutions, brokerage firms, news agencies and other companies, including Fidelity Investments, E-Trade Financial and Dow Jones & Co.
Prosecutor Jeffrey Berman said that Tyurin ultimately collected client data from more than 80 million victims, "which is one of the largest thefts of American client data for one financial institution in history."
As the year is coming to a wrap, the 2020 holiday season is being actively attacked by malicious actors. In recent months, a steady upsurge has been witnessed in cybercrime related to online shopping as people have increasingly shopped online this year. Security experts have predicted a further spike in cyber scams during the holiday season, especially throughout the month of December.
The United States is witnessing major cyberattacks, multiple government departments’ agencies are being targeted including treasury and commerce departments, homeland security and now Microsoft is the latest victim of a cyber attack.
According to the Russian President, he is counting on the experience of the President-elect of the United States, which will help solve some problems in relations between the two countries
Vladimir Putin called a provocation the question of the general producer of the RTVI channel Sergey Shnurov, who during a press conference asked why Russian hackers this time did not help Donald Trump become President of the United States and whether Russia is ready to provide asylum to the outgoing American leader.
"This is not a question, but a provocation. Hackers did not help Trump and did not interfere in the American elections. This is all speculation, an excuse to spoil relations between Russia and the United States, an excuse not to recognize the legitimacy of the US president for domestic political reasons," Putin said.
According to the Russian President, relations between Moscow and Washington have become hostages of the internal political situation in the United States: "It is their choice, let them do what they want."
Putin also expressed hope that "the elected President of the United States will understand what is happening." "He is an experienced man. We hope that some problems will be resolved under the new administration," the President said.
It is worth noting that the US authorities previously reported that hackers working for Russia obtained information from the databases of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the US Treasury and Commerce Department.
During a press conference, Russian President Vladimir Putin named the real authors of the fakes about Russian hackers.
According to the President, they are the US State Department and the US intelligence agencies. He also added that it was they who in 2016 made a throw-in about the connections of hackers who hacked the mail of members of the US Democratic Party with Russian military intelligence.
"So they are the authors in fact. In any case, according to their instructions, this was done, it is quite obvious," the head of state said in a live broadcast.
On Thursday, December 17, the head of state held a large press conference. The event included a direct line with the President.
On September 25, Vladimir Putin invited the US authorities to resume cooperation in the field of international information security, which began in 2013 but was frozen due to disagreements over Ukraine and Russia's alleged interference in the 2016 US presidential election.
The President of the Russian Federation then stated that the dialogue in the cyber sphere should not be a "hostage" of political disputes, and proposed a four-point program for restoring cooperation.
In a statement, the Russian President said that "the risk of a large-scale confrontation in the digital sphere is one of the main strategic challenges of our time." "Special responsibility" for preventing cyberwarfare lies, as the Kremlin said, "on key players in the field of international information security," that is, primarily on Russia and the United States.
On October 7, in an interview with the Russia TV channel, Vladimir Putin complained that there was no response to his proposal from the United States. "Unfortunately, as with a number of our other initiatives, there is no response to this, I believe, very important topic, although there are continuing complaints against us about our hyperactivity in the information sphere, interference in elections there, and so on, which have absolutely no basis,” said Mr. Putin.
The Russian Embassy in Washington denies US accusations against Russian citizens of hacking and destabilizing activities around the world
Russia has not been and is not engaged in carrying out cyberattacks in the world, said the Russian Embassy in Washington. The Department believes that the accusation of Russians in hacking is aimed at warming up Russophobic sentiments.
Earlier, the US Department of Justice and the FBI brought charges against six Russians of involvement in a series of hacker attacks and the spread of malware in order to attack the infrastructure of other countries. In particular, they are charged with spreading the NotPetya virus in 2017. It is alleged that these individuals are GRU employees.
The Russian Embassy said that Russia "has no intention of engaging in any destabilizing operations around the world", as this does not correspond to foreign policy and national interests.
"It is quite obvious that such information occasions have nothing to do with reality and are aimed only at warming up Russophobic sentiments in American society, at deploying a "witch hunt" and espionage,” said the Embassy. According to the document, the US authorities are destroying Russian-American relations and artificially imposing on the Americans "a toxic perception of Russia and everything connected with it."
According to the US Department of Justice, the damage to the United States from the actions of Russian hackers amounted to more than $1 billion. They attacked companies and hospitals in the United States, Ukraine's energy systems, the French presidential election, and the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said this shows Russia's disregard for public security and international stability in cyberspace.