But even short of that, Putin thinks that the US is responsible for political turbulence in his region, namely the fall of pro-Russian governments in Ukraine, and revolutions in Georgia and Kyrgyzstan. Why would Russia do this?įor starters, since the mid-2000s, Russian president Vladimir Putin has been convinced that the US has an objective to overthrow him. In independent forensic assessments, the 17 US intelligence agencies said the same thing. Two other cybersecurity firms-Mandiant and Fidelis- reached similar conclusions. In the past, the same hackers were found to have infiltrated NATO and other western government computers. It said the two Bears got into not only the DNC, but also the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the State Department, and numerous Washington-based think tanks. Hired by the DNC to examine its computer system, CrowdStrike found the telltale tradecraft methods of two known Russia-linked hackers-what it calls Cozy Bear and Fancy Bear. The first evidence of Russian fingerprints in the DNC hacking came not from intelligence agencies but from CrowdStrike, a private cybersecurity firm. What is the evidence of Russian meddling? … They should be a concern to all those who share democratic values,” said Alex Younger, head of the UK’s Secret Intelligence Service, otherwise known as MI6. Notably, the intelligence chiefs of three European countries- Germany, Sweden and the UK-are raising similar worries about Russian attempts at electoral influence. “The risks are profound. This part of the intelligence is under debate within the government, as the FBI sees murkier Russian aims. But in a new assessment presented to members of Congress last week, the CIA added a twist on the existing reports, which was the conclusion that Russia’s efforts were aimed to help Trump. The goal, the agencies have alleged for months, was to sow chaos by raising doubts about Clinton, and about the integrity of the election itself. The Russians also hacked the Republican National Committee and deployed a campaign of information warfare, involving fake news and tweets. The circumstantial evidence here is that material from the thefts were passed along to WikiLeaks, which then posted a selection of what it received. Hackers deployed by the Russian government broke into email servers at the Democratic National Committee (DNC), and stole emails from senior members of Hillary Clinton’s campaign, including campaign chief John Podesta and Clinton herself, according to US intelligence assessments. Here’s what we know so far: What exactly was Russia’s involvement in the US election? What is the CIA alleging about Russia and the US election? What is Russia’s motive? And if the CIA is right, what happens now? While a bipartisan group of senators are calling for an investigation into how Russia might have influenced the US presidential election-saying the reports of interference “should alarm every American”-US president-elect Donald Trump is alleging that Democrats and other opponents are fabricating a story of Russian mischief because they still cannot accept his victory a month ago. In the US, the warnings have been met with a mix of outrage and outright dubiousness. With anti-establishment politics shaking governments across the west, US and European intelligence chiefs are newly raising the alarm about Russian cyber attacks and information warfare, saying they pose a threat to their democracies.