[EL] ELB News and Commentary 8/21/18

Tue Aug 21 07:17:41 PDT 2018

“Microsoft says it has found a Russian operation targeting U.S. political institutions”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=100736>
Posted on August 21, 2018 6:56 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=100736> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

WaPo:<https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/microsoft-says-it-has-found-a-russian-operation-targeting-us-political-institutions/2018/08/20/52273e14-a4d2-11e8-97ce-cc9042272f07_story.html?utm_term=.203903e3e614>

A group affiliated with the Russian government created phony versions of six websites — including some related to public policy and to the U.S. Senate — with the apparent goal of hacking into the computers of people who were tricked into visiting, according to Microsoft, which said Monday night that it discovered and disabled the fake sites.

The effort by the notorious APT28 hacking group, which has been publicly linked to a Russian intelligence agency and actively interfered in the 2016 presidential election, underscores the aggressive role that Russian operatives are playing ahead of the midterm elections in the United States. U.S. officials have repeatedly warned that the November vote is a major focus for interference efforts. Microsoft said the sites were created over the past several months and that the company was able to catch them early, as they were being set up. It did not go into more specifics.

Microsoft’s Digital Crimes Unit, which is responsible for the company’s response to email phishing schemes, took the lead role in finding and disabling the sites, and the company is launching an effort<https://blogs.microsoft.com/on-the-issues/2018/08/20/we-are-taking-new-steps-against-broadening-threats-to-democracy/> to provide expanded cybersecurity protection for campaigns and election agencies that use Microsoft products.

Among those targeted were the Hudson Institute, a conservative Washington think tank active in investigations of corruption in Russia, and the International Republican Institute (IRI), a nonprofit group that promotes democracy worldwide. Three other fake sites were crafted to appear as though they were affiliated with the Senate, and one nonpolitical site spoofed Microsoft’s own online products.
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Posted in campaigns<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>, chicanery<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>

“League of Women Voters, Voting Rights Groups Sue Arizona Secretary of State for Violating Federal Law”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=100734>
Posted on August 21, 2018 6:53 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=100734> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Press release via email:

The League of Women Voters of Arizona joined voting rights organizations in a lawsuit filed against Arizona Secretary of State Michele Reagan Monday, nine months after notifying her office of significant federal voting rights violations.

The lawsuit, filed by the League of Women Voters of Arizona, Mi Familia Vota Education Fund, and Promise Arizona, details how Arizona has continued to engage in known violations of the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA), a law the League was instrumental in passing. The ACLU, the ACLU of Arizona, Demos, and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law are representing the plaintiff organizations.

“Secretary Reagan is failing to ensure that Arizona voters’ addresses are updated in accordance with federal ‘Motor Voter’ requirements,” saidRobyn Prud’homme-Bauer, co-president of the League of Women Voters of Arizona. “The NVRA requires states to update voters’ registration addresses when there is a driver’s license address change, unless the voter opts out of updating their voter registration address.”
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Posted in NVRA (motor voter)<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=33>

--
Rick Hasen
Chancellor's Professor of Law and Political Science
UC Irvine School of Law
401 E. Peltason Dr., Suite 1000
Irvine, CA 92697-8000
949.824.3072 - office
rhasen at law.uci.edu<mailto:rhasen at law.uci.edu>
http://www.law.uci.edu/faculty/full-time/hasen/
http://electionlawblog.org<http://electionlawblog.org/>
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