By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com
The FBI is boosting its investigation of Russian hackers who are believed to be targeting the Democratic Party and politicians.
Reuters reports that the FBI hopes to get enough evidence to gain indictments against Russians who are behind the cyberattacks.
The State Department said the hacking attempts by Russians are increasing and could disrupt and discredit the November elections.
“Doing nothing is not an option, because that would telegraph weakness and just encourage the Russians to do more meddling, but retaliating in kind carries substantial risks,” said one U.S. official involved in the administration’s deliberations.
Russian continues to deny its behind the hacks.
White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Thursday that it’s not an easy task to track down and indict the hackers.
“We’re in unexplored territory here, and the president is quite interested in trying to establish international norms,” said Earnest. “I’ll let the FBI speak to what evidence they have amassed, but I think they’re also cognizant of the fact that as soon as they make a declaration like that, most people are going to understandably be interested in seeing that evidence. And some of that evidence may not be something we want to show.”
