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Ambitions of Russian hackers went well beyond Hillary Clinton

Updated on: 03 November,2017 12:14 PM IST  |  Washington
Agencies |

The hackers who upended the US presidential election had ambitions well beyond Hillary Clinton's campaign, targeting Russian opposition figures, US defence contractors and others of interest to the Kremlin, according to a previously unpublished digit

Ambitions of Russian hackers went well beyond Hillary Clinton

The hackers who upended the US presidential election had ambitions well beyond Hillary Clinton's campaign, targeting Russian opposition figures, US defence contractors and others of interest to the Kremlin, according to a previously unpublished digital hit list.


Hillary Clinton
Hillary Clinton


The list, obtained by The Associated Press, provides the most detailed forensic evidence yet of the close alignment between the hackers and the Russian government, exposing an operation that stretched back years and tried to break into the inboxes of 4,700 Gmail users across the globe – from the Pope's representative in Kiev to the punk band Pussy Riot in Moscow.


"It's a wish list of whom you'd want to target to further Russian interests," said Keir Giles, director of the Conflict Studies Research Center.

He said the data was "a master list of individuals whom Russia would like to spy on, embarrass, discredit or silence." The AP findings draw on a database of 19,000 malicious links collected by cybersecurity firm Secureworks, dozens of rogue emails, and interviews with more than 100 hacking targets.

Social media giants accept meddling
In three hearings in US this week, executives from Facebook, Twitter and Google acknowledged that their platforms were used by Russia to try and create division over disparate issues as immigration, gun control and politics.

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