"Microsoft said on Tuesday that it’s detected and seized six websites
targeting the U.S. Senate and conservative think tanks, which were created by hackers linked to the Russian military intelligence unit that tried to influence the 2016 election. Other nations may be making similar cyberattacks on the U.S., but Microsoft and other tech firms have only reported evidence of Russia’s election-meddling efforts.
For the past two years, Microsoft has been waging a legal battle against the Russian hacking group that targeted Democrats in the 2016 election, which is known as Strontium, Fancy Bear, or APT28. Last year the company obtained court approval to seize fake domains created by the Russians, going on to shut down 78 of these sites.
Last week Microsoft took over six more: three fake domains mimicking the Senate, one modeled after a generic Microsoft site, and two meant to look like conservative think tanks the Hudson Institute or the International Republican Institute."...
The site could have been used to trick people working at those institutions to click on the fake links, which would redirect them to a page where hackers would attempt to steal their passwords and other information.
For months,
senior U.S. intelligence officials in the Trump administration have been warning of Russian attempts to interfere in the midterm elections. “We continue to see a pervasive messaging campaign by Russia to try to weaken and divide the United States,” Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats told reporters earlier this month.
Microsoft Uncovers More Russian Hacking Ahead of Midterms