Microsoft warns hackers from Russia and China are targeting Biden and Trump campaigns

Microsoft has given itself the task of protecting democracy and is currently helping to protect the presidential election campaign in the USA.

Today the company reported that several state actors are trying to hack the presidential campaigns on both sides.

They report that G.R.U., the same Russian military intelligence unit that hacked the Russian military intelligence unit is currently going after campaign staff, consultants and think tanks associated with both Democrats and Republicans, but was making greater efforts to hide its tracks, for example using Tor to hide their real IP address.

Interestingly Chinese hackers have been targeting the Biden campaign preferentially, attacking the private email accounts of Mr. Biden’s campaign staff, also prominent individuals in academia and the national security establishment, including groups like the Atlantic Council and the Stimson Center.

The Biden campaign told the New York Times it was “aware of reports from Microsoft that a foreign actor has made unsuccessful attempts to access the noncampaign email accounts of individuals affiliated with the campaign,” and was preparing for further attacks in the coming weeks.

Similarly, Christopher Krebs, who directs the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency at the Department of Homeland Security, said, “We are aware that Microsoft detected attempts to compromise email accounts of people and organizations associated with the upcoming election.”

So far, Microsoft officials said they found no evidence that hacking efforts this year were successful, but the company, of course, does not have a full view of the arena.  That job was the role of U.S. intelligence officials, said Microsoft.

via NYTimes