Hackers claim breach of Russian election systems days before State Duma vote
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Hackers claim they breached Russia’s Central Election Commission infrastructure days before State Duma elections. (Photo: REUTERS/Ramil Sitdikov)
Days before Russia’s
State Duma elections, the anonymous hacker group CikLeak said it had
breached the infrastructure of Russia’s Central Election Commission and its
contractors, according to a statement from
the group.
CikLeak said it breached the infrastructure of the Central
Election Commission itself, as well as Rostelecom, Tsifrotekh and other
companies involved in developing the State Automated System Vybory 2.0.
The system was launched in early 2026. The September State
Duma elections were to be the first federal campaign conducted using it.
“We do not interfere with the work of election commissions
or the voting process, but help show how it works from the inside. We want
Russians to learn more about how the authorities can rig elections,” CikLeak
said.
The Astra Telegram channel reported that the breach resulted in
the leak of Tsifrotekh’s internal documents, source code, call recordings,
passwords and employee correspondence.
The Important Stories outlet reported that the hackers provided
its newsroom with an archive of the documents and that its journalists verified
the archive’s authenticity.
In August, Russian Central Election Commission Chair Ella
Pamfilova said the State Automated System Vybory was “impossible to hack.”
Russia’s State Duma elections are scheduled for Sept. 18–20.
On Aug. 10, Russia’s Supreme Court revoked the registration
of the Yabloko party’s federal list of candidates for the State Duma elections.
Yabloko was the only party campaigning on anti-war slogans.
On Sept. 10, Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service said
Russia could stage provocations
and terrorist attacks under a “false flag” in temporarily occupied
Ukrainian territories during the State Duma elections.
On Sept. 11, the Atesh partisan movement reported that
Russians were carrying out widespread fraud during so-called “early voting” in
the State Duma elections in temporarily occupied territories. For example,
ballots were being filled out in the names of Russian occupation troops who had
been killed or were missing.
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