Malware And Ransomware Attacks Haunt The US Presidential Election

Ilustrasi (Photo by Jefferson Santos on Unsplash)

JAKARTA - A suspicious network was found again ahead of the voting process for the United States (US) presidential election. The network, dubbed the Trickbot, can infect computers with malware as well as ransomware.

Launching the Business Insider page, Tuesday, November 3, Microsoft has warned US officials about the increasing malware attacks ahead of the US election. Now that it coincides with election day, Trickbot appears and is claimed to interfere with the voting process.

"Enemies can use ransomware to infect computer systems used to maintain voter lists or report voting results. Even those who feared seizing the system sow chaos and mistrust," said Microsoft Corporate Vice President, Tom Burt in a blog post.

According to Tom, ransomware is one of the biggest threats in elections because it has the potential to infect and disrupt information network systems on election day, targeting voter registration databases.

In October, the FBI warned in a statement that cybercriminals often use Trickbot along with other viruses. This malware attack was experienced by a number of US hospitals a few weeks ago and resulted in system damage, delaying the operation of patients.

According to the analysis manager of Mandiant Threat Intelligence FireEye, Jeremy Kennell, the wave of ransomware attacks shows that cybercriminals are building new Trickbots that are unaffected and quickly adapt to certain network systems.

He explained that Microsoft is now locked in a cat-and-mouse game with the makers of Trickbot. Because of their shrewdness in rebuilding a new network of botnets using other types of malware. As

Kennelly said the hackers' tenacity was a sign that their operation was unlikely to be completely thwarted by Election Day. It's also another sign that hackers and their malware have grown tougher, even against security giants like Microsoft.

"Nonetheless, there appear to be ongoing attempts to disrupt the TrickBot botnet infrastructure that are proving to be successful, at least for now," said Kennelly.

On the other hand, security firm Check Point said ransomware attacks had increased 50 percent in the last three months. Given that since the US presidential election in 2016, cybersecurity issues have continued to be in the spotlight, especially after Russian hackers broke into and leaked emails from the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton's campaign team.

Since then, government agencies such as the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency have stepped up their efforts to guard elections against hackers and online disinformation. Because malware has the potential to exacerbate the situation and spark disputes about the results of the US election.