Researchers: No Evidence That Russia Is Messing With Campaign 2018—Yet

By the first week of October 2016, Russia’s pawprints were all over the presidential race. Not this year, researchers say.

By Kevin Poulsen and Spencer Ackerman

All eyes are peeled for foreign interference in November’s elections. But amid the Senate hearings on election security and indictments, the warning sirens and reports, experts in computer security and influence operations are quietly acknowledging an elephant in the room, or, more accurately, a bear that isn’t. With just 28 days to go before the midterm elections, they haven’t found any evidence yet of direct Russian interference in 2018’s races.

By the first week of October 2016, Russia’s paw-prints were all over the presidential race. Wikileaks had already dumped thousands of DNC emails stolen by Russia’s Main Intelligence Directorate, the GRU, and was on the verge of doing the same to Clinton campaign chair John Podesta. A persona created by Russian intelligence was giving press interviews and chatting with a member of Donald Trump’s inner circle. Provocateurs at Russia’s infamous troll factory in St. Petersburg had already organized pro-Trump and anti-Clinton rallies around the country,  drawing hundreds of Americans into the streets to wave MAGA signs and dangle from Vladimir Putin’s invisible strings.

This year, crickets.

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Source: The Daily Beast