Secretary Jeh Johnson of Homeland Security said on Monday that the influence of cyber attacks on the outcome of US elections 2016 was unconditionally nil, as anticipated by the US media.
A lot of speculations about Russian cyber attacks on US elections were circulating in the US media since 2015. Fuelling these rumors was the statement made by Johnson in August 2016. He warned the 9,000 plus states and local authorities behind election and said that cyber espionage could be aimed at the elections to disrupt it to the core.
Speaking at the Bloomberg Next Form in D.C on Monday, Mr. Johnson said that some minor incidents of the type that people might expect did took place before the election date. But nothing serious was discovered in connection with US 2016 elections.
As per the statement, Johnson said that a specialized cyber security team from the Department of Homeland Security was on guard since October 2016. The team was responsible to identify any vulnerability in IT infrastructure of US elections and take necessary action in the case, something unexpected takes place.
According to NBC’s news report released early last week, a specialized US cyber team has taken the hold off Russia’s critical infrastructure including nuclear and power grids since last month. This was a precautionary measure taken by the US government, if in case, Russia rolls out any cyber attack places on the US Election Day.
Maybe this precautionary step of United States has made Russia or other rivalry nation take a back step in influencing US elections.
The statement from Mr. Johnson came within few hours of a telephonic conversation of US President Donald Trump with Russian President Putin. The phone conversation was related to the lost ties between the two big nations.
It is a known fact that Former US President Barack Obama cut short business ties with Russia a couple of years ago due to many reasons.
Now, the newly elected US President Donald Trump wants to start a fresh relationship with nations like Russia in order to see the United States as a number one nation economically and politically in near future.
