MSFT says Russian hackers targeted groups tied to the 2020 election

On Thursday, Microsoft shared in a blog post that it suspects hackers may have interfered into campaign groups ahead of the 2020 election. Yahoo Finance's Rick Newman joins The First Trade with Alexis Christoforous and Brian Sozzi to discuss that and how online platforms and consumers can prevent potential hacks.

Video Transcript

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: Microsoft is warning about potential hackers ahead of the 2020 election. In a blog post Thursday, the software giant said Russian hackers targeted dozens of organizations in the upcoming US presidential election. Yahoo Finance senior columnist Rick Newman is joining us now. So Rick, do they say if these hackers are targeting the Biden campaign or the Trump campaign, or they're both up for grabs?

RICK NEWMAN: They use the phrase US presidential campaigns with the plural. But then they do say-- they do single out the Biden campaign as being targeted by these Russian hackers. And they say they're doing some tactics similar to what we now know happened in 2016 when they targeted the Hillary Clinton campaign. And also trying some new things, such as using new technology that can continually rotate the IP address that these attacks are coming from to make it harder to figure out where it's starting from.

Also, China and Russia are doing similar things, according to this Microsoft blog post. Chinese hackers are actually going after the Biden campaign as well as in addition to one former senior individual from the Trump administration. We don't know who that person might be.

That's kind of interesting because, why-- you kind of think that China would prefer Joe Biden over Donald Trump. And yet they are hacking the Joe Biden campaign, or trying to. Add also, Iran is doing some hacking here. And they seem to be going after the Trump campaign and the Trump administration more than the Biden campaign.

BRIAN SOZZI: Rick, it appears that-- what can companies do to protect themselves? It seems that they can't do anything here?

RICK NEWMAN: I guess, Brian, all the things we talk about all the time-- don't click on emails that look unfamiliar, be extremely cautious, put-- apply all the antiviral software you can, hire the cybersecurity firms, and just be really smart. One other interesting thing about this new information is it's not coming from the government. It's not coming from the FBI or from Homeland Security or any other government agency. It's coming from Microsoft.

We've seen some of that before. But this also comes as there are reports that the Trump administration has told the government not to talk about these kinds of hacking efforts. So I guess pay attention to what Microsoft and all the other private sector tech companies are saying.

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: All right, Rick Newman, good to see you.

RICK NEWMAN: Bye, guys.