Bombshell intel leak reveals Russia cyber attack targeted voting software and election officials

According to a report at The Intercept, an internal document at the NSA shows that Russian military intelligence "executed a cyberattack on at least one U.S. voting software supplier and sent spear-phishing emails to more than 100 local election officials just days before last November’s presidential election."

The Intercept notes the document is dated May 5, 2017, and states, "Russian General Staff Main Intelligence Directorate actors … executed cyber espionage operations against a named U.S. company in August 2016, evidently to obtain information on elections-related software and hardware solutions. … The actors likely used data obtained from that operation to … launch a voter registration-themed spear-phishing campaign targeting U.S. local government organizations."

According to the Intercept,  the Russian hackers "focused on parts of the system directly connected to the voter registration process, including a private sector manufacturer of devices that maintain and verify the voter rolls. Some of the company’s devices are advertised as having wireless internet and Bluetooth connectivity, which could have provided an ideal staging point for further malicious actions."

The NSA notes that the attacks could have had an impact on voting tallies.

You can read The Intercept's entire report here.