US Official Warns Against Blaming All Election Hacks on Russia

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - Hacking attempts targeting US voter registration data bases are often the work of criminals seeking personal information, with Russians unfairly blamed, US Homeland Security Undersecretary for National Protection and Programs Christopher Krebs said in a congressional hearing on Wednesday.

"It’s not always Russia and that’s one of the unfortunate aspects of the climate right now is that every time you see some sort of disruption, whether it’s intentional, malicious, accidental, everyone is jumping to the conclusion of it’s Russia," Krebs told the US House of Representatives Committee on Homeland Security.

Krebs explained that voter databases that were purportedly targeted by Russian hackers in the 2016 US presidential election are also targeted by criminals seeking data on individual voters.

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A lawmaker’s question on reports of hacking in the US state of Arizona in 2016 prompted the exchange.

"For Arizona, it’s one of the more challenging situations because it wasn’t necessarily related directly to Russian activity," Krebs said.

Krebs also noted that the US intelligence community has found no evidence of a Russian cyber campaign targeting election systems ahead of November’s midterm elections, in which voters will choose the entire House of Representatives and one-third of the Senate.

The Russian government has denied involvement in hacks of the US voting systems in the 2016 elections saying the allegations are groundless.