Russian special services use the influence of the social media in order to drive a wedge within the American society. Kirstjen Nielsen, the U.S. Homeland Security Secretary said this at the Convent of the U.S. Secretaries of State, as quoted by AP.
According to the news agency, Nielsen said her agency will help state and local election officials prepare their systems for cyber attacks from Russia or elsewhere. She said U.S. intelligence officials are seeing “persistent Russian efforts using social media, sympathetic spokespeople, and other fronts to sow discord and divisiveness amongst the American people, though not necessarily focused on specific politicians or political campaigns'.
At the same time, she said, the efforts of Russian special services 'are not necessarily aimed at certain politicians or political campaigns'.
Last week, the U.S. charged 12 Russian citizens with conducting cyber attacks and stealing documents during the presidential race in the U.S. in November 2016.
Earlier, Dan Coats, the Head of National Intelligence of the United States in Washington claimed that the threat of cyber attacks aimed against the USA reached the critical point.
Precisely the countries like Russia, China, Iran and North Korea are attacking the digital infrastructure of the United States, Coats claimed. Head of the intelligence pointed out the attacks are aimed at business, all levels of authority, private organizations, and at key infrastructure.
‘They intend to undermine the democracy every day, regardless of whether elections are taking place now,’ Coats noted.
Earlier, Twitter has blocked two profiles that are assumed to be connected with 12 Russians, accused of interfering in the US elections. On July 14, the representative of Twitter claimed that @DCLeacks_ and @Guccifer_2 profiles have been blocked for communication with a network of accounts that were previously observed in violation of the rules of the social network.
