Microsoft has unveiled a software solution known as ElectionGuard at a security forum in Aspen, Colorado, even as it said it had informed 10,000 of its customers of being targeted or compromised by nation-state attackers in the last 12 months.

A well-known attack group that is known as Turla, Snake or Waterbug appears to have hijacked and used the infrastructure of another similar group, known as OilRig, APT34 or Crambus, the American security firm Symantec claims.

The Australian Signals Directorate has ascertained that hackers who breached the networks of the Australian Parliament and those of three main political parties — Liberal, Labor and National — are nation-state actors, but the agency's director-general, Mike Burgess, has said he cannot name the country involved in a public forum.