Microsoft announced recently that in collaboration with the Justice Department, they were successful in preventing a hack which had the potential to deal considerable damage to both the public and the election at large.
On October 12, Microsoft executed a program with an order from the Department of Justice to disable IP addresses associated with the Trickbot malware network. This happened while the US Cyber Command executed an attack on the same servers to temporarily take them offline. Trickbot, is a network that criminals to sell the ability to inject malware and ransomware into vulnerable computers. Both Microsoft and US Officials have warned that these hackers could easily get into services that focus on the US election and steal the information they have collected. Microsoft made a statement saying that “that the attackers are likely to adapt and seek to revive their operations eventually. But, Microsoft said, the company's efforts reflect a "new legal approach" that may help authorities fight the network going forward.”[1]
Even with these announcements, hackers will continue to evolve and continue to attack many different targets. Constant vigilance and training are the keys to preventing these hackers from creating chaos in your networks.
[1] https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/12/tech/microsoft-election-ransomware/index.html
