Hackers are preparing further attacks on the campaign headquarters of US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, senior officers of the general staff of Russia's Armed Forces foreign military intelligence Main Intelligence Agency (MIA) recently told SCMagazineUK.com.
While the Russian special services have denied any direct participation in the attacks on the Clinton's headquarters, they said that Russia has several hacker groups which may conduct such attacks while being silently condoned by the country's government.
Among such groups are Fancy Bear and Cozy Bear, the first of which is reportedly affiliated with the MIA, while the second has been associated with the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB).
They are also reported to have made clear that that Russian law enforcement agencies will not actively prosecute members of such groups should they be involved in further attacks on the headquarters of a candidate whose success in the election would not be seen as in the interests of the Russian government.
Alex Voronkov, a former colonel of the Russian Federal Security Service, told SC that cyber-attacks have become an efficient tool of industrial espionage in recent years.
Voronkov added that many hacker groups receive regular funding from the national governments and special services of particular states, which allows them to use the most modern digital technologies.
In addition, analysts at «K» department in the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (a department dedicated to fighting cybercrimes) told SC that, having ample financial resources, Russian hacker groups are trying to infiltrate workers into particular companies or organisations, which could then become a subject of their cyber-attacks. The use of insider accomplices significantly raises their chances of conducting successful cyber-attacks.
He says that analysts suggest that there is a high likelihood that hackers have insiders within Clinton's campaign headquarters, which helped them to conduct these cyber-attacks - though of course this could itself be part of a misinformation campaign to encourage a witch-hunt within the DNC.
