12 Russians Indicted for DNC Hack, Stealing Voter Info

The US has indicted 12 Russian armed forces officers for hacking the Democratic National Committee and other targets and leaking the stolen materials during the 2022 presidential election.

All 12 suspects allegedly worked for ii divisions within the GRU, Russia's intelligence bureau, the Justice Department said on Fri. One group was devoted to hacking the victims, the other was focused on leaking the materials online.

These Russians created net personas—Guccifer ii.0 and DCLeaks—which falsely claimed to be a lonely Romanian hacker and a website started by a group of American hackers, respectively.

To reach a wider audience, Russian officers transferred stolen materials to "System 1," a likely reference to WikiLeaks. The indictment says the Russians, posing as Guccifer 2.0, approached Organization 1 to offer them documents stolen from the DNC and transferred that data starting on July 14, 2022. "On or about July 22, 2022, Organisation 1 released over 20,000 emails and other documents stolen from the DNC network past the [Russians]."

WikiLeaks posted the first trove of 20,000 DNC emails on July 22, 2022.

Today, WikiLeaks tweeted that the indictments are an "interesting timing pick" ahead of President Trump's scheduled coming together with Vladimir Putin on Monday. Simply United states of america Deputy Chaser Full general Rod Rosenstein said in a Friday press conference that he notified Trump about the indictments "earlier this week" and that he was "fully aware of today's actions by the Department."

In addition to contact with WikiLeaks, several people reached out to Guccifer 2.0 in August 2022 soliciting access to the stolen documents, the indictment says. That includes "a candidate for the US Congress," a "and then-registered state lobbyist and online source of political news" and a reporter. It also mentions contact with "a person who was in regular contact with senior members of the presidential campaign of Donald J. Trump," which appears to be Roger Rock.

"The conspirators corresponded with several Americans through the cyberspace. There is no accusation in the indictment that the Americans knew they were communicating with Russian intelligence officers," Rosenstein said.

To assistance mask their Russian origins, the military officers used networks of computers located across the world, including in the United states, and paid for it using Bitcoin. Ironically, federal investigators used Bitcoin's blockchain to help them track the group'southward activities.

State Ballot Boards

In improver, the suspects hacked the website of a state election board and stole information on 500,000 voters, including names, addresses, partial Social Security numbers, dates of birth, and driver'south license numbers.

Hackers besides breached a software vendor used to verify voter registration information. When the FBI issued a public alarm well-nigh the country election board hacks in August 2022, the hackers deleted search histories and other records related to election-related entities.

By Oct, however, they were back at it, targeting canton websites in Georgia, Iowa, and Florida. Just alee of the election, the Russians sent more than 100 malware-laden spearphishing emails that looked like they came from the software vendor to people responsible for handling elections in Florida.

"The goal of the conspiracy was to take an touch on the election," Rosenstein said.

The indictments come from the US Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who'southward been charged with investigating any suspected links betwixt Russians and officials with President Trump'southward 2022 presidential entrada.

U.s.a. intelligence agencies officially blamed Russia for the DNC breach in October 2022. But Fri's indictment really names the alleged actors behind the hacking activities.

The Russian officers allegedly used spearphishing emails to play tricks their victims into giving up their passwords. They also hacked into computer networks to found malware that could spy on users by capturing keystrokes, taking screenshots. All the data they stole was then eventually leaked.

Virtually Chloe Albanesius

Chloe has led PCMag'due south news coverage for more than than 10 years, editing and writing stories about the innovations that have shaped the concluding decade and the companies behind them. She also oversees the site'southward how-to coverage. Before joining PCMag.com, Chloe was a reporter covering tech policy on Capitol Loma for The National Journal's Technology Daily and fiscal IT for Incisive Media in NYC. She'due south held internships at NBC's Meet the Press, washingtonpost.com, the Tate Gallery printing part in London, Coil Call, and Congressional Quarterly. She graduated with a bachelor's caste in journalism from American University in Washington, D.C.

Source: https://sea.pcmag.com/torguard-vpn/28342/12-russians-indicted-for-dnc-hack-stealing-voter-info

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