Putin ordered hack on Democratic Party database - Financial Times

Putin behind hacking of Democrates ' data base to sway election in Trump's favour -

Russian President Vladimir Putin personally approved Russian cyber attacks aimed at interfering with last year’s presidential election motivated by “a clear preference” for Donald Trump, according to a newly declassified study by the US intelligence community.

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In“Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the US presidential election,” the report concluded. “Russia’s goals were to undermine public faith in the US democratic process, denigrate Secretary Clinton, and harm her electability and potential presidency.”

The joint effort by the Central Intelligence Agency, Federal Bureau of Investigation and the National Security Agency said the campaign was in keeping with Moscow’s traditional interest in weakening the US-led global order. But the use of purloined emails to hobble Democrat Hillary Clinton marked a “significant escalation” beyond traditional Russian espionage activities, it added, writes David Lynch in Washington.

All three agencies agreed that Russia “aspired to help President-elect Trump’s election chances” by discrediting Clinton or contrasting her unfavorably to him. The CIA and FBI said they had “high confidence” in that judgment while NSA backed it with moderate confidence.

Russia took a flexible approach to executing a multi-faceted campaign involving cyber attacks, traditional propaganda, and “fake news” spread via social media “trolls.” When Mrs Clinton appeared likely to be elected, the campaign focused on “undermining her future presidency.”

Putin has nursed a grudge against Clinton for what he saw as her role in anti-government protests in Moscow in late 2011 and 2012, the report said. The Russian leader also “has had many positive experiences working with Western business leaders whose business interests made them more disposed to deal with Russia,” the report said, citing forme Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.

On Election Day, Russian social media allies readied an effort to call into question the legitimacy of the vote through the twitter hashtag #DemocracyRIP, the report said

Russia’s General Staff Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU), responsible for overseas spying, likely began its cyber attacks against the Democratic national Committe computers in March of last year. By May, Russian hackers had extracted “large volumes of data from the DNC,” the report said.

Financial Times