Source: UPI via Alamy Stock Photo

The Biden administration is reportedly taking major actions against Russian-backed efforts to sway the 2024 presidential election, including revealing criminal charges against two Russian nationals, sanctions against certain entities and individuals, and seizing 32 Internet domains. 

"The American people are entitled to know when a foreign power is attempting to exploit our country's free exchange of ideas in order to send around its own propaganda," Attorney General Merrick Garland said.  

A $10M Russian Influence Campaign

The two Russian nationals, Konstantin Kalashnikov and Elena Afanasyeva, were accused of implementing a nearly $10 million scheme to help fund a media network, RT International, based in Tennessee, in order to publish pro-Russia content. The network then went on to contact US social media influencers to share the company's content and help in further weakening US opposition to core Russian interests.

It's not the first time Russia has interfered in US elections. In 2016, Russia advanced a persistent threat group known as APT28, or Fancy Bear, that hacked into the DNC website, as well as the servers for the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC).

And in the 2020 presidential election, Facebook and Twitter, which is now known as X, removed social media accounts affiliated with Internet Research Agency (IRA), a Russian-backed company that aimed to influence Americans using fake news sites to persuade voters not to vote for Joe Biden. 

Now, the Treasury and Justice departments are taking parallel actions with the Biden administration to hold Russian actors accountable. The Treasury Department has announced that its Office of Foreign Assets Control has designated 10 people and two entities as part of a "coordinated US government response to Moscow's malign influence efforts targeting the 2024 US presidential election."

It also sanctioned pro-Russian hacktivist group RaHDIt, claiming that the group is run by current and former Russian intelligence officers.

Unlikely to Deter Russian Efforts

It's unlikely, however, that any of this will deter Russia. 

"Russia will continue doing what they have for many elections: attempt to create chaos within our democratic election system," says James Turgal, VP of global cyber-risk and board relations at Optiv and former executive assistant director for the FBI's information and technology branch. "They, like other nation-states, will continue to try and exploit social media and other channels with the hope of sewing discord and misinformation. This will only increase as the election gets closer."

To combat these threats, Turgal recommends that policies be put in place in political campaigns to defend against social engineering attacks and that staff be trained to know different attack vectors as well as how to "safely use personal devices to access campaign systems [and] remain cautious when providing information online and to outside entities."