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The
US Secretary of Homeland Security said Saturday there is no sign that Russia
aims at this year's mid-term elections with the same "scale or
field of application "he targeted the 2016 presidential election.
Department of Homeland Security
Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen spoke at a convention of state secretaries,
an event that is usually a quiet affair highlighting voter registration,
ballots and electoral security
problems that do not attract much public attention. But coming in the middle of new allegations
in Russia's attempts to influence the 2016 elections, the elections sessions
security has a higher level of urgency and interest.
Nielsen said his agency will help
local and national election officials prepare their systems for cyberattacks in Russia or elsewhere. She
United States, intelligence services see "persistent Russian efforts
using social media, sympathetic spokespersons and
from other fronts to sow discord and division among the American people,
although not necessarily focused on specific politicians or politicians
campaigns. "
The Higher State Conference
the election officials that she addressed was sandwiched between Friday's indictment
12 Russian military intelligence officers accused of hacking
Democratic party and campaign accounts and long-awaited Monday meeting
between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Trump never condemned Russia
on interference in the 2016 election despite the findings of all the United States up
intelligence agencies, and the Kremlin has insisted that it has not interfered
American election. In the past, Trump reiterated Putin's denials, but this week
he said that he would raise the issue when they meet on Monday in Finland.
"All I can do is say:" Did
Trump said a few days ago at a press conference in Brussels.
Do not do it again. But he can deny it. "
Some of the state officials who
running the elections say that it's important for Trump, a Republican, to take a harder
to prevent public confidence in fair elections being compromised.
"I believe as a commander
Chief, he has the obligation to fix it and, frankly, put Putin and any other
foreign nation that seeks to undermine our democracy on the view that the actions
will not be tolerated, "said California Secretary of State Alex Padilla, a Democrat,
said in an interview this week.
Some of his peers refused to go
"I will not tell
the president what to do, "said Jay Ashcroft, the Republican secretary of
state in Missouri.
Trump portrays the investigation
as a partisan attack, but not all Republicans see it like that. This month, the
Republicans and Democrats on the US Senate Intelligence Committee supported the
findings of an badessment of US intelligence agencies that Russia has tried to
interfering in the 2016 election and acted in favor of Trump and against his
The Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton.
As part of this effort, Russian
the hackers have targeted at least 21 states before the election and are supposed
have violated the voter registration system in at least one of the investigators in Illinois
say. Without naming the state, Friday's indictment declared that Russian
intelligence agents stole information about about 500,000 voters from the
Web site of an election council, an undetected breach for three weeks.
There is no
the results of the evidence have been changed, but attempts have prompted the federal government
and states to re-examine electoral systems and strengthen their cybersecurity.
Federal officials also say
possible that malicious software could have been planted that could alter the vote or
cripple computer systems in upcoming elections.
Election officials spoke
on the technical details of the blockage of an incursion.
Washington Secretary of State Kim
Wyman, a Republican, told peers how her state uses her National Guard
to help test and consolidate cybersecurity for elections. She said that it was important
to make voters understand that the military is not running the elections and is doing
do not have access to electoral data.
"The general idea is
inspire confidence in voters and the public that the system is secure "
Wyman said in an interview.
Some state officials also said
Homeland security is increasingly useful for sharing information.
On Friday, a federal grand jury
indicted the 12 Russian intelligence agents on the charges that they hacked
Democratic campaign networks in 2016 and then stole and published dozens of
thousands of documents. The indictment says that one of the intrusions came
summer, on a vendor whose software is used to check the voter registration
information. The indictment refers to a spoof of email, he says Russian agents
sent to more than 100 customers from the vendor election management to try to get
more information.
"The accusations tell us
that … we can no longer deny in any form that the Russians were
Said Sam Woolley, cybersecurity expert, of the Institute for
Future in Palo Alto, California.
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