The FBI squarely blamed Russian intelligence services for meddling in the 2016 US presidential election, by releasing the most definitive report yet on the issue, including samples of malicious computer code said to have been used in a broad hacking campaign.
Starting in mid-2015, Russia's foreign intelligence agency, the FSB, emailed a malicious link to more than 1,000 recipients, including US government targets, the FBI said in a 13-page report co-authored with the Department of Homeland Security.
While the Department of Homeland Security and Office of the Director of National Intelligence had said Russia was behind the hacking in October, the report is the first detailed technical analysis provided by the government and the first official FBI statement.
The FSB, was once headed by Vladimir Putin and is the main successor to the KGB.
The Department for Homeland Security, FBI and Office of the Director of National Intelligence said in a joint statement: “This activity by Russian intelligence services is part of a decade-long campaign of cyber-enabled operations directed at the US Government and its citizens.”
In a two-pronged attack, two hacking groups known as APT28 and APT29 targeted think tanks, universities, political organisations and corporations.
The report makes clear reference to the hacks of the DNC and Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager John Podesta, though it does not mention them by name.
Mr Podesta’s personal gmail account was hacked in March this year, with Wikileaks later publishing 20,000 pages of emails allegedly from the former White House chief of staff in October and November.
The report added: “These cyber operations have included spearphishing, campaigns targeting government organisations, critical infrastructure, think tanks, universities, political organisations, and corporations; theft of information from these organisations; and the recent public release of some of this stolen information.”
The findings come as President Barack Obama announced a series of retaliatory measures, including the expulsion of 35 Russian intelligence operatives and the sanctioning of Russia’s military intelligence service- the GRU and FSB.
Throughout the presidential campaign, a steady stream of leaked Democratic emails dogged Democrat nominee Mrs Clinton. In the aftermath of her defeat, Democrats have accused Russia.
Russia has consistently denied the allegations of hacking.
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