$10 Million Reward For Info Foreign Hackers Trying To Interfere With US Election

The State Department on Thursday offered a $10 million reward for information leading to hackers trying to interfere with the 2020 U.S. election.

The Diplomatic Security Service said it is looking to identify people working at the direction of any foreign government and their locations. Anyone with information is asked to contact info@rewardsforjustice.net.

In a report released in April, the Senate Intelligence Committee recognized Russia had interfered in the 2016 presidential election and helped to elect President Trump – the same conclusion reached by the Mueller investigation, which linked the interference to the Russian military intelligence agency GRU.

Intelligence officials have said they have evidence Russia is attempting to interfere again as are Iran and China.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Wednesday in a video chat with the Public Policy Institute of California that Russia really never stopped its interference. She said she is concerned Moscow is again mounting a social media campaign and criticized Facebook and other tech giants for ignoring the problem.

Investigations have determined Russia created numerous fake accounts for the purpose of planting disinformation and turning the posts into viral weapons to sow divisions within American society and undermine faith in the government.

Christopher Krebs, director of the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, said more details on foreign election interference would be released. He said information put out by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence last month was just “the beginning of a conversation with the American people.”

Krebs said so far, intelligence agencies have not yet detected any attacks on state election systems like those mounted in 2016.

“On the election infrastructure targeting, there is just not near anything of what we were seeing in 2016,” Krebs said during a virtual Black Hat cybersecurity conference. “Shifting over to the disinformation space and the potential for hack and leak, Russia has never taken its foot off the gas, China’s in the game, Iran’s in the game, so I just really encourage everyone to pay attention to your sources of information, think before you click, think before you share.”

“Russia's persistent objective is to weaken the United States and diminish our global role. Using a range of efforts, including internet trolls and other proxies, Russia continues to spread disinformation in the United States that is designed to undermine confidence in our democratic process and denigrate what it sees as an anti-Russia 'establishment' in America,” National Counterintelligence and Security Center Director Bill Evanina told a Capitol Hill briefing.

Officials are wrestling with how much information should be made public.

“If the administration knows that there are foreign agents operating in the context of an American election, they need to tell the public,” Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said after Senate briefing Monday. “I mean, that’s just not something that should be kept secret. It’s in no one’s interest.”