Kremlin pushes back against report Russia hacked US voting equipment firm

by Rebecca Savransky - 06/06/17 7:53 AM ET

The Kremlin is pushing back against a report that Russian intelligence services hacked a U.S. voting equipment manufacturer.

“This assertion has absolutely nothing to do with reality,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a conference call with reporters, Reuters reported.

“We have heard no arguments proving the veracity of this information. … Therefore we strongly deny the very possibility that this could have happened.”

{mosads}The Intercept, citing a National Security Agency (NSA) investigation, reported Monday that Russian intelligence agents hacked a U.S. voting systems manufacturer in the weeks leading up to the 2016 presidential election.

The NSA believes hackers used that breach to obtain information used to spear phish the company’s customers, the news outlet added.

The NSA investigation, marked top secret and only to be shared with Canada, Britain, New Zealand and Australia, claims the Russian intelligence agency GRU targeted more than 120 email addresses associated with local government organizations, which it speculates were taken from the earlier hack.

The Department of Justice on Monday also charged a government contractor with sharing top-secret material with a media outlet.

Court documents filed by the government don’t specify which media outlet received the materials allegedly leaked by Winner, but NBC News reported that the material went to The Intercept.

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