U.S. election threat bigger than Russia
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Russia, China and Iran are all seeking to influence the U.S. presidential election in November – with Kremlin-linked interference in 2016 regarded as a trial run, according to intelligence assessments
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Yevgeny Prigozhin (above), close associate of President Vladimir Putin, operates
St Petersburg-based Internet Research Agency (right) which targeted Democrats and African-American community to boycott 2016 election
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Phishin: Attacks begin on fringes of campaign – think-tanks, academics and political consultants with weak cybersecurity. Once inside, hacker sends emails with PDF files from “trusted” accounts to members at campaign headquarters.
When files are opened, network is infected
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Active Measures: Trolls, with automated bots, create groups on social media organized around most divisive issues in U.S. life.
Groups intensify lies and distrust
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Leaks: Hackers steal presidential campaign emails and publish genuine emails along with fake, incriminating, emails to give them credibility
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Audio phishin: Synthetic- audio software allows hacker to mimic voice of campaign official, to send voicemail messages
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Illegal ads: Trolls steal identities of U.S. citizens to hide foreign origin of funds used to buy political ads. Facebook’s algorithms send ads to U.S. voters passionate about themes being pushed
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Screen to street: Social media pages convene demonstrations and counter-demonstrations in same place at same time
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Hack the vote: Hackers flip digits in addresses on voter-registration database – voters’ photo IDs no longer match official records. Confusion and anger at polling stations stokes
suspicion about integrity of vote
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Sources: The Atlantic, NSA, U.S. Cyber Command Pictures: Associated Press © GRAPHIC NEWS