Russian hackers targeted Senate, US think tanks: Microsoft

US-based tech giant Microsoft has accused Russia of seeking to launch cyber attacks on the US Senate in the run-up to the November’s congressional elections.

In a report published on Tuesday, the corporation claimed that hackers linked to the Russian government sought to launch cyber attacks on the US Senate and two conservative American think tanks, with Moscow strongly denying the allegation.

Microsoft said it thwarted the Russia-linked attempts last week by taking control of six web domains that hackers had created to mimic the pages that belonged to The International Republican Institute and The Hudson Institute.

Microsoft said hackers could have used the domains to send emails to Senate staffers or people working for the two institutes in a bid to trick them into handing over information like their login credentials – usernames and passwords.

The world’s biggest software company said it has shut down 84 fake websites in 12 court-approved actions over the past two years.

“We’re concerned that these and other attempts pose security threats to a broadening array of groups connected with both American political parties in the run-up to the 2018 elections,” Microsoft President Brad Smith said in a blog post.

Russian authorities reject Microsoft's accusations

Hours after the Microsoft report was released, the Kremlin said it did not understand allegations from the US corporation and that they lacked evidence.

“We don’t know what hackers they are talking about,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters at a news conference in Moscow on Tuesday.

“... Who exactly are they talking about? We don’t understand what the proof and the basis is for them drawing these kinds of conclusions. Such information (proof) is lacking,” he added.

Russia's Foreign Ministry denounced Microsoft's accusations in a statement and said, "It is regrettable that a large international company, which has been working in the Russian market for a long time, quite actively and successfully, has to take part in a witch-hunt that has engulfed Washington."

Russia's Interfax news agency also cited an unnamed Russian diplomatic source as describing the allegations as part of a political game.

“Microsoft is playing political games,” it cited the source as saying. “The (mid-term US) elections have not happened yet, but there are already allegations.”                

Microsoft was acting like a prosecutor rather than a private company, Interfax quoted the source as adding.

The Tuesday report published by the world’s biggest software company comes amid increasing cyber-tensions between Moscow and Washington ahead of the congressional votes in November.

Last month, a federal grand jury in the US indicted 12 Russian intelligence officers on charges of hacking the computer networks of 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party.

PressTV-12 Russians indicted in Mueller investigation

US Justice Department special counsel Robert Mueller has indicted 12 Russian intelligence officials in connection with the alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election.

US Special Counsel Robert Mueller, a former FBI director, has been running a high-profile investigation into allegations that Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump won the 2016 US presidential election against Clinton only because Moscow had rigged the election in his favor.

US intelligence agencies claim Russia-linked hackers provided WikiLeaks with damaging information -- in the form of thousands of hacked emails -- about Clinton to skew the 2016 presidential election in favor of Trump.

Trump has repeatedly denied allegations that his campaign colluded with Russians and has condemned the investigations. Russian President Putin has also denied the allegations.

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