The building that housed the Internet Research Agency in St. Petersburg, shown in 2018. (Dmitri Lovetsky/AP)
By Ellen Nakashima



The U.S. military blocked Internet access to an infamous Russian entity seeking to sow discord among Americans during the 2018 midterms, several U.S. officials said, a warning that the Kremlin’s operations against the United States are not cost-free.
The strike on the Internet Research Agency in St. Petersburg, a company underwritten by an oligarch close to President Vladi­mir Putin, was part of the first offensive cyber campaign against Russia designed to thwart attempts to interfere with a U.S. election, the officials said.
“They basically took the IRA offline,” according to one individual familiar with the matter who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss classified information. “They shut ‘em down.”
The operation marked the first muscle-flexing by U.S. Cyber Command, with intelligence from the National Security Agency, under new authorities it was granted by President Trump and Congress last year to bolster offensive capabilities. . . . .
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-cyber-command-operation-disrupted-internet-access-of-russian-troll-factory-on-day-of-2018-midterms/2019/02/26/1827fc9e-36d6-11e9-af5b-b51b7ff322e9_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_russiaattack-1150am%3Ahomepage%2Fstory-ans

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Cyber Command Operation Took Down Russian Troll Farm for Midterm Elections


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Voters at the Topeka Civic Theater in Kansas last year during the midterm elections. The United States Cyber Command took a Russian troll farm off line on Election Day to block any potential interference.CreditCreditBarrett Emke for The New York Times

WASHINGTON — The American military took down a Russian troll farm last Election Day in a cyberattack that continued for several days after the vote, part of what United States officials have said is a persistent campaign to block and deter interference in American democracy.



The operation was intended to prevent the Internet Research Agency, based in St. Petersburg, Russia, from spreading propaganda or disinformation aimed at undermining confidence in the midterm vote or the results of the election, American officials said.
The operation was aimed at taking the Internet Research Agency off line for several days, from Election Day until the results were certified by local officials.
The Internet Research Agency, the best known of the Russian troll farms that create large amounts of propaganda, has been accused by the United States government of meddling in the 2016 elections. It is not part of the Russian government, but is controlled by oligarchs loyal to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. . . .

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/26/us/politics/us-cyber-command-russia.html
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"Russian General Pitches 'Information' Operations As A Form Of War" by Andrew E. Kramer, The New York Times, 2 March 2019
www.nytimes.com/2019/03/02/world/europe/russia-hybrid-war-gerasimov.html?




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