Ransomware Attacks Causes Concern for Russian Election Interference

Last week, a ransomware attack targeted a Texas company that marketed software that cities and states use to display election results.

The incident is the latest assault of almost 1,000 cybercrimes in the last year that focused on small towns, big cities, and contractors who are running their own voting systems.

Potential Russian interference

According to The New York Times, Russian criminal groups were responsible for most of the attacks, and some have had doubtful connections to Russian President Vladimir Putin's intelligence services.

However, the attacks on Tyler Technologies, the most frequent of which occurred on Friday, have been the most problematic because criminals attempted to log into its clients' systems across the country just 40 days before the November election.

Despite the victim company not tallying any votes, it is commonly used by election officials to summarize and display the results in at least 20 separate locations around the United States.

The Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the United States Cyber Command all expressed their worries that the company would be a prime target of cybercriminals aiming to interfere with the U.S. election by sowing chaos and spreading disinformation.

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Tyler Technologies, on the other hand, refused to detail the ransomware attack specifically. The hacking incident appeared to be an ordinary attack at first, where the culprit would lock data from the owner unless they pay a sum of money.

However, it was later revealed that the criminals attempted to gain access to the company's clients' systems when some of them said they saw suspicious activities on Friday night. The incidents raised alarm that foreign entities could be aiming at more than just financial profits.

Continuous election threat

Several federal officials have spent the last year worrying about the potential threat that ransomware groups have on official election processes. Potential risks include freezing of voter registration data and election poll books, as reported by The Crime Report.

Federal investigators are unsure whether the ransomware attacks are efforts of common cybercriminals looking for a profit or if they have ties to Russian interference. In the first two weeks of September, seven more American government entities have been victim to ransomware attacks that resulted in their data getting stolen.

The attacks also come after President Putin declared that he wished to make a non-interference pact with the United States. The Russian leader urged both nations to agree not to meddle in each other's elections this year.

According to Business Insider, Putin's statement wrote that each nation would agree to a non-intervention deal within both countries' internal or domestic affairs, including electoral processes.

The statement also notes that the agreement aims to foster a good relationship between the two nations. Putin wrote that the measures outlined in the deal aim to develop trust between the United States and Russia and promote security and prosperity to both nation's citizens.

The Russian leader added the deal would contribute to global peace in the field of information significantly.