The US presidential election is targeted by Chinese hackers (and not only)

Less than 100 days from Election Day, there is an IT security alarm. China, Russia and Iran could interfere by exploiting hackers sponsored by their respective governments. "We will not tolerate it," said White House National Security Advisor

(Photo: Getty Images) Robert O'Brien said that Chinese government-sponsored hackers are targeting US electoral infrastructure ahead of presidential elections of November 2020. For the first time, the National Security Advisor of the White House goes beyond simple generic indications and points the finger directly at the Beijing government. "He would like to see the president lose," he told CBS Face the Nation. He goes on to underline that the US cyber team is particularly careful to prevent any kind of cyber-interference on Election Day: “Whether it is China, Russia or Iran, we will not tolerate it. There will be serious consequences for any country that tries to obstruct our free and fair elections ”.

O'Brien's warning to foreign governments comes less than 100 days before the November elections, shortly after the U.S. community Intelligence has issued its first public assessment of the foreign preferences of presidential candidates. According to the latter, Russia would be working to denigrate Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, while China would prefer Trump to lose re-election. Iran, on the other hand, could try to undermine American democratic institutions and the future president through defamatory content online and on social media through a phishing campaign.

During the interview with the Cbs O'brien has repeatedly pointed to as the foreign leaders , especially of countries with which Trump has had frictions, prefer Joe Biden to the current occupant of the White House; but then he added: “it doesn't matter, we're americans. We will not have foreign countries who decide who will be our next president” .

Although from China, to April 2020, the Foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said: “The us presidential election are an internal affair and we have no interest to interfere” , O'brien has reported that experts on cybersecurity, responsible for monitoring the activities in the cyberspace around the elections, have seen hackers try to infiltrate websites belonging to the offices of the Secretary of State throughout the country. Have been the target of attacks also the sites responsible for the administration of the elections at the local level and the collection of data on americans.