Officials Say Iran, Russia Obtained Publicly Available Data to Influence Presidential Campaign

Feds also say phishers posed as Proud Boys to scare Dems into voting for GOP, Law enforcement agencies across all 50 states have encrypted device unlocking tools, McAfee has gone public again

In an unexpected press event by the FBI held at night without any questions taken from reporters, top national security officials claimed that Iran and Russia have both obtained voter registration data to influence the U.S. presidential election during its final two weeks. Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe and FBI Director Christopher Wray said the voter data obtained by the adversaries is public and no evidence exists that anyone hacked into voter registration systems or altered vote totals.

Iran purportedly used the data to pose as the hard-right group Proud Boys to send spoofed emails to Democratic voters scaring them into voting for Republicans, which Ratcliffe said purportedly hurt Trump, although how he did not elaborate further. Cybersecurity firm Proofpoint said that the hackers tried to cover their tracks by first routing the emails through a compromised Saudi insurance company network and then using the website of an Estonian textbook company.

The pairing of R…