Microsoft Says Russia Tried to Hack US Senate

Russian Military Intelligence is targeting the US Senate and some conservative think tanks, which always advocated tough policies against Russia. The cyber attack has come to light after Microsoft Corporations announcement that they have thwarted an attack on the important sites of United States.

Microsoft Corporation in its report has said that it has not only identified but has detected and seized six websites that are created by a group known as Fancy Bear or APT28 and Strontium, associated with the Russian government.

The group was also behind the hack of the Democratic National Committee during 2016 US elections, which is directed by the GRU, the Russian military intelligence unit.

The form of attack also known as spear phishing was used to target Hillary Clinton's campaign of chairman John Podesta in 2016 successfully. The Democratic Senator of Missouri Claire McCaskill's staff has also complained of a similar attack last year.

It has been also found that some websites are emulating the US Senate, but not any specific Senate offices or political campaigns. But the attack on conservative think tanks clearly defines the goal of Russian intelligence is to disrupt the institutions challenging Moscow and President Vladimir Putin.

Microsoft Corporation’s President Brad Smith, said, “We are now seeing another uptick in attacks. What is particular in this instance is the broadening of the type of websites they are going after. These are organisations that are informally tied to Republicans, so we see them broadening beyond the sites they have targeted in the past”.

Republican leaders and Think Tanks, who have always criticized US President Donald Trump’s interaction with Russian President Vladimir Putin including the summit between the two leaders recently in Helsinki, Finland, has once again raised the issue. Eric Rosenbach, the director of the Defending Digital Democracy project at Harvard University said, “This is another demonstration of the fact that the Russians aren't really pursuing partisan attacks, they are pursuing attacks that they perceive in their own national self-interest”.

The recent revelations has come less than three months ahead of the 2018 midterms elections, also demonstrates that how Russia is attempting to destabilize US institutions and also election candidates. According to Microsoft Corporation, the websites could have been used to launch Internet attacks on candidates and other political groups ahead of the November's elections. 

In the light of the ongoing threats to the political groups in the US, Microsoft Corporation has offered a specialized cyber security protection service called Account Guard. It will offer the service to all the candidates and campaign officials, as well as the think tanks and political organizations that use Microsoft Office 365 at no extra cost. 

The initiative is a part of Microsoft’s Defending Democracy Program, which it has launched in the month of April. The company said it plans to roll out Account Guard in other parts of the world in near future, but the disclosure has also put additional pressure on President Donald Trump to take action against Russia.