вЂњWe are 100 percent sure that it can attributed to the Pawn Storm group,вЂќ said Rik Ferguson, one of the HacquebordвЂ™s colleagues. But Tend Micro, which has followed Fancy Bear for years, said there could be no doubt. вЂњThat is exactly the way they attacked the Macron campaign in France,вЂќ he said.ДЄttribution is extremely tricky in the world of cybersecurity, where hackers routinely use misdirection and red herrings to fool their adversaries. Hacquebord said the rogue Senate sites - which were set up in June and September of 2017 - matched their French counterparts. The sitesвЂ™ discovery was followed two months later by a still-unexplained publication of private emails from several Macron staffers in the final days of the race. Trend Micro previously drew international attention when it used an identical technique to uncover a set of decoy websites apparently set up to harvest emails from the French presidential candidate Emmanuel MacronвЂ™s campaign in April 2017. The Tokyo-based firm then cross-referenced digital fingerprints associated with those sites to ones used almost exclusively by Fancy Bear, which it dubs вЂњPawn Storm.вЂќ Trend Micro based its report on the discovery of a clutch of suspicious-looking websites dressed up to look like the U.S. вЂњThe Administration needs to take urgent action to ensure that our adversaries cannot undermine the framework of our political debates,вЂќ he said in a statement. Attorney General Jeff Sessions to return to Congress to say what action had been taken to help ensure lawmakersвЂ™ digital safety. He reiterated an offer to hold joint consultations with the US in fighting cyber crime.The Senate Sergeant at Arms office, which is responsible for the upper houseвЂ™s security, declined to comment, but Nebraska Sen.

Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov said the claims were part of a plot to whip up 'anti-Russian hysteria'. Obama administration officials said it would be difficult to change the results of the election because of the decentralised nature of the American electoral process. They stopped short, however, of attributing this activity to the Russian government. Intelligence officials say some states have been the subject of scanning or probing of their election systems, which in most cases originated from servers operated by a Russian firm. 'The Russians have used similar tactics and techniques across Europe and Eurasia, for example, to influence public opinion there.' 'These thefts and disclosures are intended to interfere with the USВ election process,' the statement added. It said the disclosureВ of allegedly hacked emails on websites like and WikiLeaks, and by the Guccifer 2.0 online persona, are consistent with the methods and motivations of efforts directed by Russia. 'We believe, based on the scope and sensitivity of these efforts, that only Russia's senior-most officials could have authorized these activities,' the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said in a joint statement with the Department of Homeland Security. US suspends contact with Russia over Syria

Russian hacking sites