Posted on June 7, 2017 at 8:57 AM
US Voting System Discovered to be Hacked by the Russian Hackers
According to the report published by The Intercept, Russian intelligence agents were found responsible for the alleged hacking of the US election system just before the last year’s election. The report itself came from the document leaked from the NSA, that was classified as top secret.
Soon after the publication, the federal contractor from Georgia, Reality Leigh Winner, 25, was arrested by the FBI. According to reports, she was charged with removal of highly classified data from the facility owned by the government, as well as with mailing such materials to a news outlet.
When it comes to the election itself, it would seem that the senior Democrat’s email was hacked, but the vote-counting system wasn’t affected. The report claims that the attacks were performed by the Russian military intelligence and that over a hundred officials connected to the voting software have received spear-phishing emails before the poll.
The Intercept specializes in the issues related to the national security, and when asked about the document, they said that it was delivered anonymously. Also, it’s the most detailed account of the Russian interference in the election that was discovered by now.
The US Department of Justice stated that the FBI arrested Winner at her home and that she appeared in federal court on Monday. The investigation uncovered that she’s a contractor working for Pluribus International Corporation, and also that she has a background in the US Air Force, where she used to work as a linguist.
According to the report, it would seem that the NSA is convinced that it was the Russian GRU (Russian General Staff Main Intelligence Directorate) that was responsible for the election interference. On the other hand, Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesman. claims that these accusations can’t be proved and that Moscow continues to deny any involvement.
Further in the document, there are several references to a product made by an unnamed company. It’s believed that the company in question is VR Systems, which is a vendor based in Florida. This company provides equipment and services related to the electronic voting, and their equipment is currently being used in eight states.
According to the Intercept, the NSA has submitted several requests for redactions in the publication of the document. This only shows that there might be parts that aren’t in the public interest. The assessment itself states that there is no proof that Russia actually had any sort of influence on the election.
However, there’s still suggestion that foreign hackers might have gained some level of access to the systems used for voting, and allegations like that are expected to only add up to the confusion.
The FBI is the organization that’s conducting the investigation of Winner’s breach of national security. According to the arrest warrant for Winner, it’s discovered that on May 9th, she printed and removed classified data that was then sent to an online news outlet several days later.
Further in the statement, it’s added that Winner has agreed to talk to the investigators that have received and executed a search warrant at her home. She admitted having printed classified intelligence intentionally. She also admitted removing it from the office space, as well as retaining it, and then sending it to the news outlet that wasn’t authorized to possess or receive such document.
As for the Intercept, their official report is that the document was handed to them anonymously and that they did not know who had sent it.
