Workers process early voting ballots in Miami CHANDAN KHANNA / AFP
Russia remains the main threat of foreign interference in the US elections, intelligence sources have confirmed to
The New York Times,
despite the fact that senior National Security officials denounced on Wednesday that they have detected interference from, not only from Moscow, but from Iran.
Russia, according to a notice published Thursday by the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security, has attacked dozens of computer networks of local and state administrations in recent days, in an offensive that could allow it to access the US electoral infrastructure.
The
hackers
Russians have managed to
steal data on at
least two servers, according to
the notice of the intelligence services.
It does not mention which organizations have been
hacked
, but assures that they have no evidence that the integrity of the elections has been compromised.
"The actor may be seeking access to pursue disruption options in the future, to influence US policies or actions, or to delegitimize state or local government entities," the notice reads.
The
Russian
hacks
, discovered through the infiltration of their networks by US agents, are part of a plan aimed, according to
Times
sources
, to interfere in the final days of the presidential race and in the hours after the elections, in benefit of President Donald Trump's candidacy, amplifying eventual disputes over the legitimacy of the results if these are not clear enough so that a winner can be immediately declared.
US intelligence has already credited massive Russian interference in favor of Trump in the 2016 elections.
Last Wednesday, the FBI announced that Iran is behind the massive sending of threatening emails to Democratic voters this week, to generate noise against Trump, impersonating members of the far-right organization Proud Boys, which supports the president and has denied your involvement.
"We have confirmed that some information on voter registration has been obtained by Iran and, separately, by Russia," said John Racliffe, national intelligence director, who accused Tehran of sending "false emails with the aim of intimidating voters, incite unrest and hurt President Trump. "
Both governments reject the accusations.
Democrats, for their part, downplayed the Iranian threat.
"The villain is Russia," said the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi.
This same Thursday afternoon, the FBI has released another notice through Twitter that warns that "the persistent advanced threat of Iranian actors is probably intended to influence and interfere in the United States elections to sow discord among voters and weaken the public confidence in the electoral process ”.
The FBI assures that these actors "create fictitious news sites and parody legitimate media sites to spread leaked voter registration data, anti-American propaganda and disinformation about vote suppression and electoral fraud."
The notice of a "significant number of intrusions since August 2019" speaks.
Intelligence agents quoted by the
Times
believe that, although the explanation for the detected Iranian interference faithfully reflected the preliminary conclusions about that operation, Russia's intentions are more serious than what was said in Wednesday's announcement.
There is no evidence that
hackers
have tampered with the vote count or voter registration information.
They would simply have accessed computer networks and could use that skill and knowledge to bring down web pages, disseminate confidential information, or similar actions that fuel chaos in the event of a complicated count.
Both operations, according to
Times
sources
,
would be limited in scope and rather aimed at creating the impression that foreign agents have more access to the electoral system than they actually do.
Federal authorities have already warned that small hacks like these could be used, by exaggeration, to spread suspicions of voter fraud.
President Trump has been denouncing for months that the increase in remote voting will produce electoral fraud, and he refuses to say that he will accept the results of the elections if they are not favorable to him.
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