. >> reporter: cnet technology producer dan patterson. >> the goal is to make the u.s. less confident in the policy goals. >> reporter: samberg would not confirm if the russians were behind these campaigns. >> we're still in the very early stages of our investigation, and we don't have all the facts, including who may be behind this. >> reporter: but republican and democratic lawmakers quickly blamed russia. in 2016 facebook failed to stop bots created from the russian internet research agency which infiltrated use feeds of thousands of facebook users, a point reiterated by homeland security secretary kirstjen nielsen. >> it was the russians. we know that. they know that. it was directed from the highest levels and we cannot and will not allow that to happen again. >> reporter: patterson said for facebook, this is just the beginning of the war. >> we know the coordinated attack in 2016 was an ongoing attack meaning it never stopped, but external ak actors, many of them foreign governments, are continues to meddle in the election. >> facebook is attempting to get ahead o

"cnet" technology prosecutor dan patterson. >> the goal was simply to make the united states weaker and to make our allies less confident in the united states' ability to achieve our foreign policy goals. >> reporter: sandberg would not confirm if the russians were behind these campaigns. >> we're still in the very early stages of our investigation, and we don't have all the facts, including who may be behind this. >> reporter: but republican and democratic lawmakers quickly blamed russia. in 2016, facebook failed to stop bots created from the russian internet research agency which infiltrated newsfeeds of thousands of facebook users, a point reiterated today by homeland security secretary kirstjen nielsen. >> it was the russians. we know that. they know that. it was directed from the highest levels, and we cannot and will not allow that to happen again. >> reporter: patterson says for facebook, this is just the beginning of the war. >> we know that the coordinated attack in 2016 was an ongoing attack, meaning it never stopped. but external actors, many of them likely foreign government

cnet technology producer dan patterson. >> the goal was simply to make the united states weaker and tos confident in the united states' ability to achieve our foreign policy goals. >> reporter: sandberg would not confirm if the russians were behind these campaigns. >> we're still in the very early stages of our investigation, and we don't have all the facts, including who may be behind this. >> reporter: but republican and democratic lawmakers quickly past.d ruanth >> reporter: in 20 failedo op bots created from the russian internet research agency, which infiltrated newsfeeds of thousands of facebook users. a point reiterated today by homeland security secretary kirstjen nielsen. >> it was the russians. we know that. they know that. it was directed from the highest levels. and we cannot and will not allow that to happen again. >> reporter: patterson says for facebook this is just the beginning of the war. >> we know that the coordinated attack in 2016 was an ongoing attack, meaning it never stopped. but external actors, many of them likely foreign governments, are continuing to meddle

. >> reporter: dan patterson is a technology reporter at cnet.hy is it so hard for facebook to identify whether or not it's russia in this particular instance? >> the actors use what's called a vpn, a virtual private network. this makes it very difficult for investigators to really determine, down to a fine science, who precisely was involved. >> reporter: but lawmakers briefed by facebook sounded convinced. >> what we're looking at in social media is an effort by russians and other adversaries to create social chaos, to divide america. >> the national security council told cbs news it's coordinating a government-wide response to foreign interference in u.s. elections. homeland security secretary kirstjen nielsen warned yesterday that cyber threats are now a bigger danger to the u.s. than physical attacks. that's where we are. >> do we know if the government identified it to facebook, or whether facebook identified it? >> it's facebook that identified it. the problem, of course, they're using these vpns. every time they try to identify it, they c

patterson reports, people with weakened immune systems are most at risk. >> reporter: a husband's heartbreak. >> i have 43 good years. >> reporter: dan larsen says his wife sharon got sick quickly and died in june from a rare infection. the unlikely source, a tiny nip from the family dog. >> i feel like i got robbed. >> reporter: the same condition struck a man who had to have his hands and legs amputated in order to save his life. just like larsen, he became ill after coming in contact with dog saliva. their blood infections were caused by capnocytophy capnocytophyga, a bacteria found in the saliva of most dogs and some cats. >> dog bites amass tissue and crush the tissue. the bacteria can be inoculated and you get sick with high fever, low blood pressure. >> reporter: the bacteria is common in cats and dogs but completely harmless to them. it can impact humans, specifically those with low immune systems, but even then, it's really rare. people most at risk are over 40, have compromised liver function or have had their spleen removed. but doctors say there is little reason to panic. >> this is a very unusual event. it is probably less common than being

the right patterson air force base in ohio amid reports of on active shooter at a medical center workers were told to shelter in place as the base was put on lock down. >> national intelligence dan coats says the intelligence community remains concerned russia is still trying to interfere in american elections. >> in regards to russian involvement in the mid-term elections we continue to see a pervasive messaging campaign by russia to try to weaken and divide the united states >>> and the new england patriots have signed wide receiver aaron deckered to a one year contract. the 31-year-old decker has played for the denver broncos, new york jets and tennessee titans let's see how he likes new england. i'll send it back downtown to you guys wilf, sara, back to you. >> sue, thank you very much. >>> still ahead cbs earnings are due out at the top of the hour we'll preview what he may say, that's coming up >>> and later casino stocks are getting crushed on earnings over the past 24 hours, brutal action does it signal something fundmently wrong [music playing] (vo) progress is in the pursuit. audi will cover your first month's lease payment on select models during summer of audi sales