‘Chaos Is the Point’: Russian Hackers and Trolls Grow Stealthier in 2020

The New York Times (01/10/2020)
  • The US National Security Agency (NSA) recently warned that Russian hackers are already preparing for the 2020 election.
  • While American defenses have improved since the unexpected 2016 attacks, Russians have adapted.
  • They’re now using harder-to-track encryption messaging instead of e-mails, paying Americans to post Facebook political ads (bypassing Facebook’s restriction on foreigners) and launching attacks from US servers (thwarts US agencies such as NSA limited to operating against foreign attacks).
  • While breaching election systems remains unlikely, creating confusion may be enough.