WAPO: U.S. officials warn of Russian mischief in election and beyond

[MyNameIsKhan]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/russia-seen-as-unable-to-alter-election-but-may-still-seek-to-undermine-it/2016/11/03/b7387160-a1cd-11e6-8832-23a007c77bb4_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_usrussia-7pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory


U.S. intelligence agencies do not see Russia as capable of using cyberespionage to alter the outcome of Tuesday’s presidential election, but they have warned that Moscow may continue meddling after the voting has ended to sow doubts about the legitimacy of the result, U.S. officials said.

The assessment reflects widespread concern among U.S. spy agencies that a months-long campaign by Russia to rattle the mechanisms of American democracy will probably continue after polls close on one of the most polarizing races in recent history, extending and amplifying the political turbulence.

U.S. security officials have not ruled out Russian-sponsored disruption on Election Day. In recent weeks, officials at the Department of Homeland Security have collected evidence of apparent Russian “scanning” of state-run databases and computer voting systems. “Whether they were really trying hard to get in, it’s not clear,” a U.S. official said.

Still, the decentralized nature of U.S. polling would make it extraordinarily difficult to subvert a nationwide race. Instead, U.S. officials said it is more likely that Russia would use hacking tools to expose or fabricate signs of vote-rigging, aiming to delegitimize an election outcome that Republican candidate Donald Trump has said he may refuse to accept if he does not win.

[vdogg]

1. If Russia wasn't a nuclear power, we'd be at war with them right now.

[regnaD kciN]

2. We already saw, after the 2004 election…

…how easy it was to alter vote totals remotely. I hope the current system has much greater security, and is being watched by experts able to outmaneuver the KGB.

[NBachers]

4. Trump, the KGB, and the FBI - Allied and working together to destroy the United States of America.

[TrishaJ]

5. And I am very serious when

I say some people need to be arrested, tried and hanged after this is over... of course it will never happen because they are Republicans and will never be held accountable for their crime of treason. And until these cockroaches are exposed and exterminated, we will continue to fight this battle for years to come.

[dalton99]

6. This is a must read