While investigators continue to probe Russian interference in the 2016 election and lawmakers and tech experts scramble to react to and prepare for likely interference in the upcoming midterms, some cybersecurity experts see one recent attack as having a specific – and familiar – objective: eliminating sanctions.
There is a quiet but intensifying digital battle being fought between Russia and the U.S. that reaches into geopolitics and foreign policy. In particular, Russia wants to get rid of U.S. economic sanctions by eliminating Republican support for the measures.
(...)
While there has been some evidence of Russian efforts to influence the midterms, the announcement from Microsoft pointed to a different kind of target — conservative think tanks and senators who have been critical of Russia. Those targets aren’t of particular importance to the 2018 midterms but they could be influential when it comes to something else that Russia wants to change: U.S. sanctions.
(...)
Sean Sullivan, security advisor at the cybersecurity firm F-Secure, said what Microsoft had uncovered was “a level above” what might be considered “ordinary espionage between powers,” such as trying to intercept communications.
U.S. economic sanctions against Russia, including those covered by the Magnitsky Act, which froze the Western assets of certain Russian officials, have pushed Russia to amp up its efforts to use cyberespionage against influential senators and institutions, Sullivan said.
“The Russians are very focused on anything related to sanctions,” he said. “The midterms, I think, are an also-ran in regard to that.”
Others would argue sowing discord and undermining trust in democratic institutions remain top Kremlin priorities.
“It’s not really about influencing people’s opinions,” [Managing Director of Commercial Practice at the security firm Fortalice Solutions Daniel] Argandoña said. “What it’s about is flooding the information space with just enough doubt for people to doubt not only the things that are fake but the things that are actually incontrovertible.”
Russia's political meddling efforts go beyond midterms, experts say (NBC News)