US federal agencies have 'all hands on deck' to protect election from cyber attacks

'There is maybe a one in three chance of this happening but it's not insignificant,' says Admiral James Stavridis

National Security Agency (NSA) headquarters building in Fort Meade, Maryland - staff at the agency will be working extra hours during the election (Reuters)

The US Government have called for "all hands to the deck" to fight off any potential cyber attack during the election.

Cyber defence departments at the FBI, CIA, NSA and Homeland Security are all working overtime to prevent any interference in the election of the 45th President, reports NBC News.

Senior intelligence officials have said federal agencies are taking this unprecedented step after a number of high profile hacks during the election.

An official told NBC: “It's all hands on deck. There is a whole-of-government effort in cyber around the election.”

The US Government has accused Russia of using cyber techniques to affect the election including the hacking of Democratic Party email accounts, leaking information to embarrass Hillary Clinton.

Former Nato commander Admiral James Stavridis said he held serious concerns hackers back by Putin's government could dump false documents in last minute attempt to smear candidates and even launch a cyber attack on the US electrical power grid.

He said: "There is maybe a one in three chance of this happening but it's not insignificant."

Russian Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov publicly refuted any suggestion of underhand involvement in the US election

Mr Peskov said: "We have neither a right nor an intention to interfere in the US election process.

"There are a lot of problems even without our interference."