Officials: Intensified Russian disinformation operations after election likely

Russia is expected by officials at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to amplify disinformation efforts ahead and after the Nov. 5 presidential election in an effort to undermine the integrity of the polls, CyberScoop reports.

Initiatives that are likely to be pulled off by Russia include voter fraud claims, fraudulent election infrastructure compromise allegations, and defacement of public-facing sites, according to ODNI officials, who have yet to discover evidence linking Russia to such activity.

However, Russia has been blamed by officials for fueling the coordinated online propaganda accusing Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz of sexual abuse against a former student. “The intelligence community assesses that Russian influence actors created and amplified content alleging inappropriate activity committed by the Democratic vice-presidential candidate during his earlier career,” said the ODNI official, who did not provide additional details on how such an association with Russia has been established.