US intelligence and law enforcement agencies are investigating what appears to a furtive attempt by Russia to smear the presidential election and US politics in general , by planting seeds of distrust in US political institutions and spreading disinformation . Clinton said the U.S. has shown "great restraint" to a series of cyberattacks by state and nonstate actors, but "we are going to have to take those threats and attacks seriously." Using cyber attacks to hack into systems used in the political process could reduce the public 's confidence in democracy as a whole . Officials are concerned about the Russian 's government 's aim of providing propaganda tools to attack Western democracy , especially in countries of the former Soviet Union .
US intelligence and law enforcement agencies are investigating what appears to a furtive attempt by Russia to smear the presidential election and US politics in general , by planting seeds of distrust in US political institutions and spreading disinformation . Using cyber attacks to hack into systems used in the political process could reduce the public 's confidence in democracy as a whole . Officials are concerned about the Russian 's government 's aim of providing propaganda tools to attack Western democracy , especially in countries of the former Soviet Union .