World News – AU – US officials call on Iran, Russia for election interference

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BOSTON – Iran responsible for emails intended to intimidate US voters and stir up unrest in US officials said Wednesday evening when calling on Tehran and Russia for activities believed to interfere with the upcoming presidential election

The announcement at a rare press conference just two weeks before the election underscored concern within the US government over efforts by foreign countries to spread false information designed to suppress the voter turnout and undermining US confidence in the vote

« These actions are desperate attempts by desperate adversaries, » said John Ratcliffe, senior government intelligence official, who, along with FBI Director Chris Wray, insisted that the US would impose costs on any foreign country that interferes in the U 2020S election

Both countries also obtained voter registration information, although the data is believed to be readily available.Despite Iranian and Russian actions, officials said Americans can be confident their votes will be counted

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While state-backed Russian hackers are known to have infiltrated US electoral infrastructure in 2016, there is no evidence that Iran ever did. Cyber ​​security experts view it as a second-rate player in the world. ‘online espionage

The press conference came as Democratic voters in at least four battlefield states, including Florida and Pennsylvania, received threatening emails, falsely claiming to be from the far-right group Proud Boys, who warned that « we will come after you » if the recipients did not vote for President Donald Trump

The voter intimidation operation apparently used email addresses obtained from state voter registration lists, which include party affiliation and personal addresses and may include email addresses and phone numbers These addresses were then used in a seemingly widespread targeted spam operation Senders claimed they would know which candidate the recipient was voting for in the November 3 election, for which early voting is underway

Federal officials have long warned against the possibility of this type of operation, as such registration lists are not difficult to obtain

« These emails aim to intimidate and undermine the confidence of American voters in our elections, » Christopher Krebs, senior election security official at the Department of Homeland Security, tweeted Tuesday evening

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Iran, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Russia, US Presidential Election, 2020, Donald Trump, John Ratcliffe