Russian, Chinese and Iranians hacker targeting Trump and Biden election campaigns:Microsoft

Cyber-attacks have also been aimed at political parties, advocacy groups, academics, and leaders in the international affairs community, according to a blog post-Thursday from Tom Burt, corporate vice president of customer security and trust at Microsoft.SKDKnickerbocker, a public affairs and political consulting firm working with Biden’s campaign, was also recently targeted in an unsuccessful hack by suspected Russian state-backed hackers, according to a Thursday report by Reuters, which said that Microsoft had alerted the firm.

The attempted hack on SKDKnickerbocker reflects a broader trend documented by Microsoft: that a Russia-based group had attacked “political campaigns, advocacy groups, parties, and political consultants." Attempts by foreign adversaries to disrupt the Nov.3 presidential election echo the efforts by Russia in 2016 to meddle in the campaign on Trump’s behalf.The president is trailing Biden in the 2020 race by more than 7 percentage points in a national average of polls.The findings emerged hours after the U.S.sanctioned Andrii Derkach, a Ukrainian lawmaker who met with Trump’s personal lawyer last year, alleging he’s a Russian agent trying to influence the 2020 election.