Russian agents 'hacked US voting software manufacturer', says report
Leaked NSA documents claim IT company was attacked weeks before US presidential election
Russian intelligence services have been accused of hacking a US voting systems manufacturer merely weeks before the 2016 presidential election, claims security news website The Intercept.
Citing a top-secret National Security Agency (NSA) document leaked to the site, The Intercept says Moscow attacked at least one voting software manufacturer and used a separate "spear-phishing" attack on more than 100 local election officials.
It adds: "Although the document does not directly identify the company in question, it contains references to a product made by VR Systems, a Florida-based vendor of electronic voting services and equipment whose products are used in eight states.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"The report indicates that Russian hacking may have penetrated further into US voting systems than was previously understood."
It also makes clear the NSA "is convinced that the Russian General Staff Main Intelligence Directorate was responsible for interfering in the 2016 presidential election", despite denials from Russian President Vladimir Putin, The Guardian says.
News of the leaked report came as the US Justice Department announced the arrest of a federal contractor with top-secret clearance.
"Reality Leigh Winner, 25, a federal contractor, [was charged] with removing classified material from a government facility and mailing it to a news outlet," NBC News says.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Officials from the Justice Department said Winner "admitted intentionally identifying and printing the classified intelligence", before "removing the classified intelligence reporting from her office space, retaining it, and mailing it from Augusta, Georgia, to the news outlet".
-
Syria’s Kurds: abandoned by their US allyTalking Point Ahmed al-Sharaa’s lightning offensive against Syrian Kurdistan belies his promise to respect the country’s ethnic minorities
-
The ‘mad king’: has Trump finally lost it?Talking Point Rambling speeches, wind turbine obsession, and an ‘unhinged’ letter to Norway’s prime minister have caused concern whether the rest of his term is ‘sustainable’
-
5 highly hypocritical cartoons about the Second AmendmentCartoons Artists take on Kyle Rittenhouse, the blame game, and more
-
Israel retrieves final hostage’s body from GazaSpeed Read The 24-year-old police officer was killed during the initial Hamas attack
-
China’s Xi targets top general in growing purgeSpeed Read Zhang Youxia is being investigated over ‘grave violations’ of the law
-
Panama and Canada are negotiating over a crucial copper mineIn the Spotlight Panama is set to make a final decision on the mine this summer
-
Why Greenland’s natural resources are nearly impossible to mineThe Explainer The country’s natural landscape makes the task extremely difficult
-
Iran cuts internet as protests escalateSpeed Reada Government buildings across the country have been set on fire
-
US nabs ‘shadow’ tanker claimed by RussiaSpeed Read The ship was one of two vessels seized by the US military
-
How Bulgaria’s government fell amid mass protestsThe Explainer The country’s prime minister resigned as part of the fallout
-
Femicide: Italy’s newest crimeThe Explainer Landmark law to criminalise murder of a woman as an ‘act of hatred’ or ‘subjugation’ but critics say Italy is still deeply patriarchal