A Top Secret NSA analyst’s report published by The Intercept suggests that, in August 2016, the Russian General Main Staff Intelligence Directorate (GRU) hacked into an election-related hardware and software vendor in the US. The GRU then used data from the company for at least two “spear phishing” campaigns against local government officials associated with elections—including one attack close to the election that appeared to target officials dealing with absentee ballots. The report was based on information that only became available in April of this year, and the NSA report does not reveal the name of the company.
Within an hour of the story’s publication, the FBI announced the arrest of the alleged source of the leaked report.
