The US moves faster to expose foreign threats before the election

By DAVID KLEPPER and ERIC TUCKER

WASHINGTON (AP) — A presidential candidate phone has been hacked. A fake video shows ballots mistakenly burned in Pennsylvania. National security officials warn that U.S. opponents could incite violent protests after Election Day.

These developments — all revealed in the past week — show how Russia, China and Iran have increased the pace of their efforts to interfere in American politics ahead of next month’s election, just as intelligence officials and security analysts have done. had predicted.

At the same time, civil servants technical companies and private investigators have taken a more aggressive defense by quickly uncovering foreign election threats, emphasizing lessons learned from previous election cycles that showed America’s vulnerability to disinformation and cyber espionage.

Officials say the American election system is so secure that no foreign nation could change the results on the scale necessary to change the outcome. Nevertheless, authoritarian opponents have used disinformation and cyber espionage to target campaigns and voters while stoking distrust and disunity.

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Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign rally on Friday, Oct. 25, 2024, in Houston. (AP Photo/Annie Mulligan)

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Here’s what you need to know as the presidential election approaches:

Russia is the biggest threat

Russia is the most active and advanced country involved in manipulating the US elections fake websitesstate-controlled media and ignorant Americans to spread misleading and polarizing content aimed at undermining confidence in the elections.

The Kremlin’s disinformation apparatus takes control of controversial issues immigrationcrime, the economy or disaster relief. The aim is to weaken the US, erode support for Ukraine as it fights Russian invaders and reduce America’s ability to counter Russia’s growing ties with Russia. China, North Korea And Iranofficials have said.

Intelligence officials and private security analysts have determined that Russia supports former President Donald Trumpand uses disinformation – sometimes AI-generated – to smear his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris. Trump has praised Russian President Vladimir Putin repeatedly suggested cutting funds for Ukraine criticism of NATO’s military alliance.

In a particularly daring campaign, Russia staged a video falsely accusing Harris of paralyzing a woman in a car accident years ago. Made another video fictitious accusations against Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

On Friday, the FBI confirmed Moscow’s role in creating one third video which supposedly shows the destruction of ballots in Pennsylvania. Local election officials quickly debunked the video as fake.

Russia has that too tried to pay American influencers who spread the Kremlin’s favorite stories. Last month, US authorities accused this two employees of the Russian state media of funneling $10 million to a Tennessee company to create pro-Russian content. The company then paid several popular right-wing influencers, who said they did so no idea that their work was supported by Russia.

Moscow campaign will not end on Election Day. Instead, intelligence officials and private security analysts predict that Russia will exploit claims of election irregularities to suggest the results cannot be trusted. A recently released intelligence memo said Russia could also encourage violent protests after the election.

“Putin’s goal is to foment chaos, division and polarization in our society,” said Michael McFaul, a former U.S. ambassador to Russia who now teaches at Stanford University.

Russia has rejected claims that it wants to influence the US elections. A message left at the Russian embassy in Washington was not immediately returned Saturday.

Iranian hack-and-leak operations

Iran has been a particularly brazen player in foreign interference this year.

Are accused of hacking Trump campaign officials and offering the stolen communications to media organizations and Democrats in the hopes that damaging stories would emerge that could damage the Republican’s prospects. Emails dangle dirty were sent to people associated with President Joe Biden’s campaign, but there is no indication anyone responded, officials said.

The Department of Justice last month three Iranian hackers charged who are still at large, accusing them of a years-long operation targeting a wide range of victims.

U.S. officials have described the hacking as part of a broader effort to interfere in elections that Iran sees as particularly consequential. Iran, they say, has made clear its opposition to the Trump campaign. His administration terminated a nuclear deal with Iranreimposed sanctions and ordered the assassination of Iranian general Qassem Soleimanian act that prompts Iranian leaders to retaliate.

In addition to the cyber operations, U.S. officials have repeatedly expressed concern about the possibility that Iran will commit violence on U.S. soil against Trump or other members of his administration. Officials filed charges in 2022 over a foiled Iranian plot assassinate Trump’s national security advisorJohn Bolton, and indicted this year a Pakistani man with ties to Iran in a plot to carry out political assassinations in the US, possibly including Trump.

Leaders in Tehran could also try to encourage violent protests after the elections, the released intelligence memo said. Authorities say Iran is also stealthy financed and supported protests in the US about the Israeli war in Gaza.

Iranian authorities have rejected accusations that the country is trying to influence the elections. The Iranian Mission to the United Nations released a statement this week saying: “Iran has no motive or intention to interfere in the US elections.”

A neutral China?

US intelligence officials believe China is taking power a more neutral position in the elections and is focused on down ballot racestargeting candidates from both parties based on their positions on issues of critical importance to Beijing, including support for Taiwan.

But for years the Chinese government has been running a sophisticated hacking operation that targets all modes of Western life and industry, going far beyond the influence of elections.

“From the council to the president, they want access,” said Adam Darrah, a former CIA political analyst and now vice president of intelligence at the cybersecurity firm ZeroFox, which tracks foreign online threats.

On Friday, news broke that Chinese hackers as part of a much broader spying effort, he had targeted cellphones used by Trump, his running mate JD Vance and people involved with Harris’ campaign. It was not immediately clear what data, if any, was accessed.

A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington said they were not aware of the details and could not comment, but asserted that China routinely falls victim to cyber attacks and opposes this activity.

Are these tactics new?

Hardly. Foreign adversaries, including those now blamed for interference, have tried to interfere in recent election cycles — with varying degrees of success.

But the US government, accused of relying on information about the extent of Russian interference in the 2016 election, has worked hard this year to aggressively denounce foreign threats as part of an effort to reduce its impact and assure Americans that the elections are secure.

In 2016, Russian military intelligence officers hacked into the email accounts of Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman and the Democratic Party and has released tens of thousands of messages in an attempt to boost Trump’s successful presidential campaign.

Russia was also involved in one that year massive but hidden troll campaign on social media aimed at sowing discord on current social issues, creating divisions in the American electoral process and damaging Clinton’s candidacy for president.

The antics continued into the 2020 election cycle, when a Ukrainian lawmaker was described by U.S. officials at the time as an “active Russian agent Audio recordings have been released of Democrat Joe Biden, who was then running for president.

That same year, Iranian hackers were blamed for emails is believed to have come from the far-right group The Proud Boys, which officials say was intended to damage Trump’s candidacy.

Originally published: October 28, 2024 at 12:29 PM