US Department of Homeland Security and the FBI said in a joint statement that they have seen to cyber attacks on the voter registration databases, refuting claims about foreign meddling in the US election.
"CISA [The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency] and the FBI have not seen cyber attacks this year on voter registration databases or on any systems involving voting", both agencies said. "Information on US elections is going to grab headlines, particularly if it is cast as foreign interference. Early, unverified claims should be viewed with a healthy dose of skepticism".
US state election officials, the release added, have correctly pointed out that a lot of voter registration data is publicly available or easily purchased.
CISA Director Chris Krebs in a tweet said that "it's going to be critical over the next few months to maintain our cool and not spin up over every claim. The last measure of resilience is the American Voter.”
Kommersant also claimed that a Russian hackers' forum advertises access to data on millions of voters from the states of Connecticut, Arkansas, Florida and North Carolina as well as personal information of 62 thousand patients of a New York hospital.
Earlier in the day, US House Democrats sent a letter to National Intelligence Director John Ratcliffe demanding that the Trump administration revive regular briefings on election security. The Democrats said that the intelligence community confirmed publicly on 7 August that only one country, Russia, is actively undertaking measures to interfere in the election.
Allegations of interference in the US election have been pursued by Democrats, who have made claims of Russia's meddling in the 2016 campaign and accused Moscow of trying to "help" President Donald Trump get re-elected in 2020.
Trump has dismissed the Democrats' accusations as another "witch hunt" in a bid to reverse the outcome of the 2016 election.
The Russian government has also refuted the allegations saying that such actions contradict its foreign policy principles, while Russia seeks a good relationship with the United States. Moscow has characterized the allegations of election meddling as absurd fabrications politicians use to distract attention away from instances of legitimate corruption, fraud and other failings.
Last month, the State Department offered a $10 million reward for information leading to the identification or location of any persons involved in foreign election meddling.
