Microsoft BLOCK attempts OF Russian to hack conservative groups in the US

We have identified several domain names that Russian hacking groups created to launch phishing attacks and has removed their access controls Microsoft said.

The president  of Microsoft Brad Smith added that "Broadening cyber threats to both US political parties make clear that the tech sector will need  to protect the democratic process".

Strontium group also known as Fancy Bear or APT28 has links with the Russian government and the purpose of the attacks is to steal user information from conservative groups that promote democracy and advocate for cyber security.

 Microsoft’s Digital Crimes Unit (DCU) successfully executed a court order to disrupt and transfer control of six internet domains created by a group widely associated with the Russian government Last week.

The attackers created web sites to mimic three US Senate web sites, along with Microsoft’s Office 365 web site and the sites of International Republican Institute and the Hudson Institute.

We have now used this approach 12 times in two years to shut down 84 fake web sites associated with this group.

A federal grand jury in the US indicted 12 Russian intelligence officers earlier in July on charges of hacking the computer networks of 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party.

Microsoft’s announcement comes amid increasing cyber-tensions between Moscow and Washington and rising concerns regarding security ahead of the 2018 mid-term elections in the United States.

According to Microsoft it is expanding its ‘Defending Democracy Programme’ which will provide free state-of-the-art cyber-security protection to all political candidates and campaign offices at the federal, state and local level in addition to think tanks and political organizations that it believes are under attack.

While the protection technology is free, candidates and organisations need to be using its premium Office 365 suite to take advantage of it.

Eric Rosenbach, the director of the Defending Digital Democracy project at Harvard University said “They are pursuing attacks that they perceive in their own national self-interest,” on Monday to the New York Times. “It’s about disrupting and diminishing any group that challenges how Putin’s Russia is operating at home and around the world.”