Security News > 2020 > November > Russian Election Threat Potent, But Interference So Far Slim
Russian interference has been minimal so far in the most tempestuous U.S. presidential election in decades.
Election officials fear a "Blend" of overlapping attacks intended to undermine voter confidence and incite political violence: taking over state or local government websites to spread misinformation, crippling election results-reporting websites with denial-of-service attacks, hijacking officials' social media accounts and making false claims about rigged voting.
Election officials across the country have faced phishing attempts and scans of their networks but that's considered routine and none have been publicly linked this election cycle to specific malware infections by foreign adversaries.
Election security officials say they worry more about misinformation mongers eroding confidence in the election than about the potential for vote-tampering.
"I do think they returned those arrows to their quiver and made them better for this year," Peter Strzok, a former FBI agent who helped lead the 2016 election interference probe, said in an interview.