Published: 11:08, September 21, 2026
Official: Russia thwarts over 100m cyber threats during State Duma elections
By Xinhua

Ella Pamfilova, head of Russia's Central Election Commission, leaves a meeting after the parliamentary election in Moscow, Sept 20, 2026. (PHOTO/AP)

MOSCOW – Russia has fended off more than 100 million potential cyber threats targeting its electoral infrastructure during the State Duma elections, Chair of Russia's Central Election Commission (CEC) Ella Pamfilova said on Sunday.

Russian electoral platforms, including the official election website, endured large-scale high-capacity DDoS attacks and targeted web server intrusions throughout the voting period, Pamfilova said.

Authorities also detected attempts to exploit system vulnerabilities and disrupt national telecommunication infrastructure. All malicious activities were identified and filtered by national security systems, with zero successful cyber breaches recorded despite the unprecedented intensity of attacks.

Investigations confirmed that cyber assaults targeting Russia's remote electronic voting system mainly originated from overseas, with some attacks using spoofed Russian IP addresses.

Pamfilova slammed Western attempts to disrupt Russia's electoral process, noting that Western countries have mobilized professional lawyers as "electoral vultures" to seek legal loopholes, spread disinformation and disrupt the CEC's work.

She criticized Western leaders and institutions for groundlessly smearing Russia's elections, pointing out that these Western politicians lack genuine public support at home yet arbitrarily judge Russia's legitimate electoral affairs.