Russia resumed attacks of trolls and bots before elections to congress - nyt

About it reports The New York Times. According to the Recorded Future group, specializing in cybersecurity issues on the GAB social network, the well -known activity of extremists and far -right, the audiences related to the secret Russian agency, which tried to influence the results of the US presidential election in 2016 and 2020, were intensified. The authors of the publications deny President Baiden and other well -known representatives of the Democratic Party.

It is declared inappropriate use of US taxpayers' funds to support Ukraine in the war against the Russian Federation. These posts draw a cartoon image of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, as in the propaganda Russian media. Researchers call it a new but more point attempt from Russia to influence US voters before the previous elections to Congress, which will take place on Tuesday.

The goal is the same to evoke the anger of a conservative electorate and undermine confidence in the American election system. This time, Russia is also trying to reach the United States to stop large -scale military support to Ukraine. "They are undoubtedly trying to stop the assistance and funding that Ukraine receives," said Alex Plitzas, a former serviceman and a Pentagon employee who is currently working at Providence Consulting Group.

Such an information operation is specifically aimed at achieving the favor of voters in the states where the highest competition for the Senate seats is observed. In particular, the Russian trolls were Democrats in Ohio, Arizona and Pennsylvania. In view of all, the authors of such an information operation regarded that they would be able to form a Republican majority in the Senate and House of Commons and thus help Russia win the war.

According to journalists, such a campaign shows how vulnerable the American political system is to manipulate from abroad. Russian bots have to adapt to the new conditions, as the main social platforms are fighting with them - actively track and remove dubious content and misinformation.

Last month, the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection Agency have warned the public about Darka Vebi Channels, online magazines, messengers, fraudulent sites, emails, text messages and fake pages. Among such misinformation attempts may be statements that the election results are falsified or broken. Representatives of the Federal Office advised users not to play or share posts of unfamiliar sources.

The details are not reported, but it is known that recently there was a campaign for misinformation from the Russian Federation, China and Iran. Recorded Future staff and two other analytical companies - Graphika and Mandiant - recorded a number of Russian information campaigns, which used platforms such as Gab, Parler and Getter, which are advertised as spaces, released moderations in the name of freedom.

It is reported that the scale of the current campaign is much smaller than what was in 2016, when unverified accounts sent fakes to millions of voters on Facebook and other large platforms. In one of the cartoon images of President Zelensky was depicted as a dancer in a bikini near Zherdina, whom Biden throws dollars. "While US workers cannot buy food, pay for gas and baby food, Joe Biden wants to spend another $ 13. 7 billion to help Ukraine," the account was reported by Nra Berka.

"It is no secret that Republicans - a large part of them - ask themselves the question of the expediency of maintaining what they call" foreign travels "or" other people's conflicts "," said Graham Brook, an employee of the Digital Forensic Lab . Edward P. Perez has previously worked on Twitter, and now represents the OSET Institute, which deals with election security issues.

He explained that in the past, the Russians have adhered to the tactics of collection of subscribers with fake accounts on most platforms, and today's campaigns may be smaller in scale and at the same time have the desired effect, since split in American society creates a fertile ground for misinformation.

According to Perez, now foreign governments can already afford a little to reduce the revolutions: first of all, they have managed to make sufficient split, which has emerged many local figures who continue to sow misinformation in their interests. Recall that the politician in the United States has promised that Ukraine will not receive any assistance if Republicans came to power.