FROM EIR DAILY ALERT

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Russians Warn of More Cyber-Attacks as March 18 Presidential Elections Near

Feb. 20, 2018 (EIRNS)—Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolay Patrushev told a conference on cybersecurity that “Sophisticated scenarios are being devised and implemented of using IT software and hardware aimed at obtaining information” from Russian cyber networks. He reported on three mass encryption virus attacks in 2017, which affected a half-million computers in Russia, including at the Interior Ministry, Rosneft and Evraz. He emphasized that “Ahead of the Presidential election in Russia, we expect that the number of political, economic, and information actions will grow.”

The head of the Central Election Commission Elia Pamifilova told TASS that,

“given the current climate, a wave of efforts to discredit the election will mount. Huge resources will be shelled out by those who find it necessary to weaken our country at any price.”

She warned about fake news which “so-called independent experts could use to draw conclusions about ‘mass violations.’ ” She said that “We will be ready to take on any provocations at full throttle.”