Russian hackers have penetrated into state and local election systems, leaving many US national security officials highly concerned about potential chaos Russians plan to sow if the election is contested, the New York Times reports.
The intrusions by the Russians far outweigh the threat posed by Iranians, as described by Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe in a press briefing Wednesday night. Much of the information used in the email spoofing campaign by Iran are available through public records, like voter registration rolls or even commercial email lists.
The Russian campaign, however, has invaded local and state election systems, but they have not penetrated into the programming or the tallies within those systems as yet. Intelligence officials speculate that Russians could use their access, however, to alter public-facing websites, changing the publicly reported voting charts or releasing non-public information.
As the Post puts it, “One official compared the Iranian action to single-A baseball, while the Russians are major leaguers.”