US lawmakers: Russian hackers aim to disrupt election

Washington, United States | AFP | 

Two US lawmakers who are members of their respective intelligence committees said Thursday that a spate of recent cyber attacks suggests Russia is trying to disrupt the November election.

“Based on briefings we have received, we have concluded that the Russian intelligence agencies are making a serious and concerted effort to influence the US election,” said a statement from Senator Dianne Feinstein and Representative Adam Schiff, both Democrats from California.

“At the least, this effort is intended to sow doubt about the security of our election and may well be intended to influence the outcomes of the election — we can see no other rationale for the behavior of the Russians.”

US officials have stopped short of blaming Moscow for the wave of computer intrusions, but many analysts have said the attacks appear to be from Russian hackers.

Feinstein and Schiff, who as members of their intelligence committees receive classified briefings, said they believe that the hacks “could come only from very senior levels of the Russian government” and called in Russian President Vladimir Putin “to immediately order a halt to this activity.”

“Americans will not stand for any foreign government trying to influence our election,” they said.

“We hope all Americans will stand together and reject the Russian effort.”

The recent breach of Democratic National Committee data, along with other electronic intrusions, has raised concerns about cyber incidents that could affect the outcome of the US presidential race, or other contests.

The campaign of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said one of the hacks had accessed an analytics data program.

Cybersecurity experts see a potential for more hacks and incidents in the coming months which could hurt the integrity of the election campaign.