The Russian hacking unit that tried to interfere in the U.S. presidential election has been targeting conservative U.S. think tanks, Microsoft said.
Acting on a court order, the company last week seized control of six fake websites involved in such efforts, which also involved a site that mimicked the U.S. Senate, Microsoft president Brad Smith said in a blog post on Monday. The hackers were linked to the Russian military intelligence agency GRU, he wrote.
The idea was to have people think they were accessing links managed by these U.S. political groups but redirect them to fake ones run by the hackers so passwords and other information could be stolen.
Democratic principles
Mr. Smith said one such site appeared to mimic that of the International Republican Institute, which promotes democratic principles and whose board includes Republican Senators, among them John McCain, who have been critical of President Vladimir Putin.
Another is similar to the domain used by the Hudson Institute, which hosts prominent discussions on topics including cybersecurity.
“We’re concerned that these and other attempts pose security threats to a broadening array of groups connected with both American political parties in the run-up to the 2018 elections,” Smith wrote.
Experts said the aim was to go after anyone who opposes Mr. Putin.
The Kremlin dismissed the fresh allegations, with spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying he did not know “which hackers are being talked about, what influencing of elections”.
