What do Russia and Iran have to gain from obtaining US voter information?

It doesn’t appear to be a particularly sophisticated attack – but we should probably expect more of this in the coming weeks, writes Sean O’Grady

No US presidential election is complete without Putin (Sputnik)

Given the circumstances, it can be no great surprise that the FBI has made its announcement that Iran and Russia have obtained US voter information. Although Iran is something of a new player, as a virtual client state of Vladimir Putin’s Russia, some cooperation between these states may be assumed. 

Indeed, the director of US counter-Intelligence William Evanina stated on 8 August that Russia, Iran and China were using “covert and overt influence measures” to interfere with the vote.  

Since the Mueller Report last year confirmed Russian activity in the 2016 US presidential election, it has been an accepted fact of political life that the traditional rivals and enemies of the west, most likely encompassing North Korea as well.