The cyber attacks of Russian hackers in summer and autumn of 2016 affected the electoral systems of 39 US states. On Tuesday, June 13, referring to sources familiar with the investigation of Russian interference in the U.S. elections, Bloomberg reported the numbers, pointing out that this is twice as much as previously reported. In this regard, Obama even called Putin on the modern-day equivalent of the "red phone."
Hackers got access to software designed to conduct polls on election day, to the campaign financing database of one party, Bloomberg reported.
According to the news agency, in Illinois, crackers got access to personal data of 90,000 voters and tried to change or delete them.
Obama Called Putin
Two Bloomberg interlocutors claim that the "scale and sophistication" of the attacks was so disturbing to the administration of Barack Obama that in October of last year he directly contacted Moscow via a secure communication channel, the so-called "red phone".
The White House provided the Kremlin with evidence of Russian cyberattacks and explained why they consider these actions dangerous and aggressive, agency sources said. In response, Russia allegedly requested more information and guarantees that it would be kept informed of the investigation.
Details of the hacker attacks that occurred in the summer and fall of 2016, were told by three people who have reliable information about the investigations conducted in the U.S. According to one of them, Russian hackers attacked computer systems in 39 states.
On June 6, the new details backed up by the secret NSA document recently published in the Internet edition of the Intercept demonstrated the extent of the alleged hacking break-ins.
At present, federal investigators are carefully studying the circumstances of these cyber attacks in the framework of an investigation into alleged links between members of Trump's electoral headquarters and Russians. But this information is worrying about future elections. They testified the previously unknown and potential serious vulnerability of the U.S.
electoral system, which uses various voting technologies.
This information appeared less than a week after former FBI Director James Comey warned Congress that Russia had not stopped interfering in U.S. affairs.
The refutation of the Kremlin
Russian officials publicly deny any role of Moscow in cyber attacks related to the elections in the U.S., including the implementation of massive targeted "phishing." The phishing resulted in the declassification of correspondence between Hillary Clinton's election headquarters and the National Committee of the Democratic Party, as well as hundreds of other organizations. Russian President Vladimir Putin in his recent speeches to journalists stated that cybercriminals may have involved criminals inside the country and that their actions were not sanctioned by the Russian authorities.
One former senior US official expressed concern that the Russians now have three years before the next presidential election in the United States to learn more about the American voting system. And there is every reason to believe that they are using this knowledge for their future attacks.
