US intelligence releases report on Russian hacks

The intelligence services CIA, FBI and NSA released a report detailing how Russian hackers influenced the US election. The report, which by the way does not contain all the details, speaks of a large-scale undermining of American democracy.

The report, a summary of a confidential investigation conducted by the CIA, FBI and NSA, talks about a hacker with the pseudonym Guccifer 2.0, who was used by the Russian military intelligence agency GRU to break into the US Democratic Party. This hacker was also mentioned in previous investigations as the person responsible for the hacks at the DNC, but probably several people are hiding under this pseudonym, the investigation shows.

The American intelligence services do state that, despite the large-scale hacking operations, the elections themselves were not influenced: no evidence was found that voting computers had been tampered with. Evidence has been found that the Russian hackers gained access to systems used in organizing the elections.

The investigation shows that, in addition to hacking into computer systems, the Russian government has devised a large arsenal of tactics to discredit American politics. For example, the intelligence services cite a campaign intended for social media with the hashtag #DemocracyRIP, which should start in case Hillary Clinton wins the election. The Americans say they are convinced of the involvement of Russian President Putin, who directly ordered an operation to undermine American democracy and to discredit presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

The report also mentions the Russian ‘trolls’; alleged individuals posting online on behalf of the Kremlin. Earlier research, including from the Reuters news agency, had already shown that the Russians have an office in St. Petersburg where employees post pro-Russian messages on websites and social media. Furthermore, the intelligence services call the propaganda channel RT, the former Russia Today, which is said to have played an active role in the Kremlin’s campaigns.

The US government has long argued that the Russian government is directly involved in hacking the Democratic Party and influencing US elections. At the end of last year, the FBI already published a report of a more technical nature, in which it explained how the Russians have acted. However, security experts criticized the report for not providing all the details and raising many questions.

The new joint security services report contains a lot of new information about the design of the Russian activities, but no new evidence is presented. The authorities are relying on sources that are not further specified in the report, saying that the precise method by which the information was collected must remain secret.

President Obama announced measures at the end of last year in response to the findings by expelling 35 Russian officials. More sanctions may be coming before Trump takes over from Obama on January 20. Incidentally, on Friday, after receiving a briefing from the intelligence services, Trump indicated that Russians had “possibly” carried out hacking attacks. He contradicted that before. Trump also said he did not believe that the hacks influenced the election results.

State hackers from multiple countries, including the United States, Russia and China, have been trying to break into each other’s systems for some time. The US security services say that Russians have been trying to penetrate US systems for years, but that the effort to influence the US elections has no precedent in scale. It is likely that the Americans will also increase their own commitment to Russia, something that has also been rumored before.