Microsoft: Russian hackers targeting U.S. campaigns

---

Microsoft said on Thursday that the same Russian military intelligence outfit that hacked the Democrats in 2016 has renewed vigorous U.S. election related targeting, trying to breach computers at more than 200 organizations including political campaigns and their consultants.

Tom Burt, a Microsoft vice president said in a blog post said, what we have seen is consistent with previous attack patterns that not only target candidates and campaign staffers but also those who they consult on key issues. U.K. and European political groups were also probed. Most of the hacking attempts by Russian, Chinese and Iranian agents were halted by Microsoft security software and the targets notified. The company would not comment on who may have been successfully hacked or the impact.

Vice President Joe Biden, Microsoft noted on Thursday that Chinese state backed hackers have targeted high profile individuals associated with the election including people associated with the Biden campaign. China's hackers largely gather intelligence for economic and political advantage, while Russia tends to weaponize stolen data to destabilize other governments.

Microsoft did not assess which foreign adversary poses the greater threat to the integrity of the November presidential election. The consensus among cybersecurity experts is that Russian interference is the gravest. Senior Trump administration officials have disputed that, although without offering any evidence.

Microsoft, which has visibility into these efforts because its software is both ubiquitous and highly rated for security, did not address whether U.S. officials who manage elections or operate voting systems have been targeted by state backed hackers this year. U.S. intelligence officials say they have so far not seen no evidence of infiltrations.

Thomas Rid, a Johns Hopkins geopolitics expert said, he was disappointed by Microsoft’s refusal to differentiate threat level by state actor. They are lumping in actors that operate in a very different fashion, probably to make this sound more bipartisan. I just don’t understand why.