US military cyber officials ‘are developing plans to target the personal data of Russian politicians and oligarchs should the country interfere in 2020 election’
- Military sources told The Washington Post that cyber officials are trying to develop new tactics to deter Russia from interfering in upcoming US elections
- The US may obtain the personal data of high-profile Russians to warn them of the vulnerabilities they face if their government continues meddling
- The military sources say that the cyber experts would be seeking to obtain sensitive information from Russian oligarchs and politicians
- However, they would not target President Vladimir Putin
- It comes as the US continues to grapple with the complex and pernicious ways that Russia meddled in the 2016 presidential election
- The country targeted state infrastructure, hacked into emails and deployed targeting ads on social media
- Intelligence experts say Russia’s main aim is to ‘sow discord’ among the American populace
Cyber officials from the US military are reportedly developing information warfare tactics to deploy against Russian elites should the Russian government interfere in next year’s presidential election.
Several government officials confirmed the developments to The Washington Post on Wednesday, under the guarantee of anonymity.
They say that the US is planning ways to obtain the personal data of Russian politicians and oligarchs if election meddling does not stop.
The sources did not disclose exactly what kind of ‘sensitive information’ they would be hoping to collect from such senior Russian figures, but the act could potentially put pressure on the country to cease interference into US affairs.
‘It’s sending credible signals to key decision-makers that they are vulnerable if they take certain adversarial actions,’ Bobby Chesney, a law professor at the University of Texas at Austin, told The Washington Post.
He described the tactic as not dissimilar to ‘individually targeted economic sanctions’.
Cyber officials from the US military are reportedly developing information warfare tactics to deploy against Russian elites should the Russian government interfere in next year’s presidential election. The Kremlin in Moscow is pictured
Cyber officials may be preparing to target the personal data of Russian elites. It’s presumed that these influential individuals may feel vulnerable and pressure their government to cease meddling in US affairs. Pictured: Cyber Shield 2016, an Army National Guard cyber training exercise designed to develop and train cyber-capable forces
The sources told The Washington Post that Russian President Vladimir Putin would not be one of the figures targeted, as the move would be ‘too provocative’.
The US intelligence community says Russia’s main goal is ‘to sow discord’ among its citizens.
It comes as the United States grapples with how to deal with Russian interference less than 12 months out from the 2020 election.
The country’s meddling in the 2016 election has been a source of great anxiety for intelligence officials, given that it was both complex and pernicious.
The meddling occurred in a variety of ways – from the hacking of campaign staffer’s emails to the proliferation of Russia-backed ads on Facebook.
According to one report, Facebook claimed that 120 fake Russia-backed pages created 80,000 posts that managed to reach more than 100 million American citizens.
Russian politicians would be among the high-profile individuals targeted by the US. However, Vladimir Putin would not be excluded
Meanwhile, a report by the Senate Intelligence Committee released last in July illuminated the Russian effort to target US election infrastructure.
The report, ‘Russian Active Measures Campaigns and Interference in the 2016 Election’, detailed a series of widespread intrusions that state and local authorities had little ability to understand at the time they occurred.
‘The Russian government directed extensive activity, beginning in at least 2014 and carrying into at least 2017, against U.S. election infrastructure’ at the state and local level,’ the bipartisan panel found.
It comes as the United States grapples with how to deal with Russian interference less than 12 months out from the 2020 election.
While the review found ‘no evidence that vote tallies were altered or that voter registry files were deleted or modified,’ investigators admit the Intelligence Community’s insights into the area is ‘limited.’
Homeland officials assessed that Russia carried out searches alphabetically, and that they ‘probably included all 50 states, and consisted of research on ‘general election-related web pages, voter ID information, election system software, and election service companies,’ according to the report.
In one odd episode singled out early in the report, the Russian embassy placed a formal request with the State Department to observe the elections – the way international observers often monitor elections in developing countries or those emerging from discord.
Additionally, Russia also ‘reached outside diplomatic channels’ to get permission directly from state and local officials, according to the report.
