Russian hacker groups have apparently executed attacks on conservative opponents of US president Donald Trump. This emerges from a report by technology group, Microsoft, about which New York Times reports. The attacks were refore directed against conservative think tanks such as Hudson Institute or International Republican Institute.
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According to data, Microsoft has discovered fraudulent websites, which looked like Internet pages of organizations, but users secretly forwarded to or sites. The goal was to steal passwords and or user information. The websites have been set up in recent weeks. A fake side of US Senate was also discovered.
The International Republican Institute concerned is conducting democracy promotion programmes worldwide. The Institute’s board of directors includes several prominent Republicans who have exercised strong criticism of US President Donald Trump. These include Senator John McCain, former presidential candidate Mitt Romney, and Security Advisor H. R. McMaster, who was dismissed in March by Trump. The Hudson Institute is conducting anti-corruption programs, often targeting Russia.
Similar attacks already existed 2016
“We are currently seeing a renewed increase in attacks,” said Microsoft’s president Brad Smith. Especially this time, that target of attacks is broader. “These are organizations that are informally related to Republicans.” In order to avert such attacks in run-up to Midtermwahlen, re is a need for increased cooperation between technology groups and government. The major technology groups had introduced programmes to exchange information last year, but se were not official.
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Similar fraudulent websites had already been discovered after US presidential election 2016. These were directed against think tanks and non-governmental organizations such as Council on Foreign relations or Transparency International.
“These attacks continue to happen because y work,” said Thomas Rid, professor of strategic Studies at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, New York Times. “It’s easy to register such sites and put m back online, so you’re going to keep doing that.
