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Obama, McCain Campaigns Both Hacked, Files Compromised
dunezone writes "As the election ends, news is coming out from both campaigns on what happened behind closed doors. During the summer, the Obama campaign had their systems hacked, but so did McCain — and not by each other, but by a third party. '... both the FBI and the Secret Service came to the campaign with an ominous warning: "You have a problem way bigger than what you understand," an agent told Obama's team. "You have been compromised, and a serious amount of files have been loaded off your system." The following day, Obama campaign chief David Plouffe heard from White House chief of staff Josh Bolten, to the same effect: "You have a real problem ... and you have to deal with it." The Feds told Obama's aides in late August that the McCain campaign's computer system had been similarly compromised.'"
Also from the article: "Officials at the FBI and the White House told the Obama campaign that they believed a foreign entity or organization sought to gather information on the evolution of both camps' policy positions — information that might be useful in negotiations with a future administration."
I guess we'll find out soon enough.
http://www.zombieapocalypse.tv/
Is that all they're after? Pff. The Internet Archive already lets me do that. And if that's too much work, the candidates have already done the graphical diffs for us!
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
they believed a foreign entity or organization sought to gather information on the evolution of both camps' policy positions--information that might be useful in negotiations with a future administration."
"they believed a foreign entity or organization sought to gather information on the evolution of both camps' policy positions--information that would be entirely useless once the winner back pedals on all campaign promises made."
Fixed that for them.
Remember kids, always have some photos of you and Chuthulu parktaking in ancient, evil rites so the perpetrator knows exactly what their "reward" will be.
If brevity is the soul of wit, then how does one explain Twitter?
My bet is someone trying to get a leg up in their Fantasy U.S. Elections league.
The enemies of Democracy are
Proof that Fox News REALLY IS fair and balanced!
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Our adversaries(even though China and Russia are technically our "allies") aren't the only ones who seek to gain from inside knowledge of foreign policy plans.
Israel is a good example but there are many others. Somebody hurry up and post other examples before some mods with sticky trigger fingers see this and mod me down for being a "racist Jew-hater".
What I really hope is that the President-Elect was made fully aware of the situation by his staff and the authorities. Hopefully, this knowledge would inspire him to seriously consider the potential danger to our country in the area of network security. Of course we never hear stories of what we do to foreign countries, but I have definitely heard too many stories of what other countries do to us to be of a sound mind in regards to the integrity of our nations information infrastructure.
During the summer the Obama campaign had their systems hacked, but so did McCain - and not by each other but a third party.
Bob Barr or Cynthia McKinney?
Reviewing just the first hour of video games.
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...Carly Fiorina worked on McCain's campaign.
I particularly love this insight:
The debates unnerved both candidates. When he was preparing for them during the Democratic primaries, Obama was recorded saying, "I don't consider this to be a good format for me, which makes me more cautious. I often find myself trapped by the questions and thinking to myself, 'You know, this is a stupid question, but let me ⦠answer it.' So when Brian Williams is asking me about what's a personal thing that you've done [that's green], and I say, you know, 'Well, I planted a bunch of trees.' And he says, 'I'm talking about personal.' What I'm thinking in my head is, 'Well, the truth is, Brian, we can't solve global warming because I f---ing changed light bulbs in my house. It's because of something collective'."
Could you have imagined Obama saying that during the election? heh
I volunteered to work on a Senate campaign. I was shocked to learn their headquarters was using an open wireless access point, but handing out WEP keys to hundreds of volunteers bringing their own laptops would have been unmanagable. Plus, you wouldn't even need to hack the network from the outside -- literally anyone can volunteer and gain access to their servers. Most of the data is just donor and supporter lists anyway; it's not like it does a candidate any good to keep their platform a secret! Since thousands of unvetted volunteers had access to the candidate's networks, I certainly hope they used a rule that no data should be placed on the campaign servers that you wouldn't want to see leaked to the newspapers the next day anyway. And everybody already knows if you're going to do something that is possibly unethical or unlawful, you NEVER mention it in email! I very much doubt you could find any information on McCain's or Obama's campaign computers that would be useful to anyone after the election.
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
Pffft, before you go jumping up on all the other countries who would want this info, given the current foreign policy of the US, I wouldn't at all be surprised it they weren't both hacked by inside sources - just to make them THINK it was another country "wanting to invade the proud US of A".
I mean seriously, all those paranoid big chiefs sitting in powerful seats within government organizations? They have careers to protect. Why not make whoever gets into power fearful of the "outside world and it's dangers" before they even get into office? Sure would help get their policy in line with the policy of aforementioned big chiefs in government seats.
Moved to http://soylentnews.org/. You are invited to join us too!
I doubt it was anonymous. Basically a bunch of script kiddies.
There are plenty of script kiddies that just call themselves anonymous, so the line is very blurry these days.
http://www.zombieapocalypse.tv/
Fuck it. We got him elected, he's going to have to answer for himself from now on. And I hope more people are with me on this -- especially those in the media.
The good news is, I believe that he will.
When posed the question of how one might respond to cyberattacks on their own websites, the following responses were gathered:
McCain: My friends, I've been around the block a few times. I know what it's like to be hacked. I know what it's like to be crippled, to be seized by foreign powers and pried for information. My friends, I've been there, not 30 years ago I was......Internet? What's that now? Oh, like the tubes...
Obama: There is no classified data on those servers. There never was. I will not hide information from the people of America. I will not hide my concerns from foreign powers. We are a nation built on freedom and that includes freedom of information. If they want to know our bathroom schedules, we will let them know. Yes we can. If they want to know where I park my car in the afternoon, I will tell them. Yes we can. If they want to know the route my daughter takes to school...
Palin: Dog gone it, how am I going to know when my next hair appointment is? Oh, it's still there? But you said they stole it. Could we go back to the part just after, "You're my vice presidential choice"? I've been a little confused since then.
Stevens: You ask me if they'll get away with this? I'll tell you. "NO!!"
Bush: Thank Christ the Lord I am done with this job. Next question...
I don't get the 4chan bashing -- /b/tards might be scum, but a large chunk of 4chan's userbase is quite civil, and many don't bother going to /b/.
Seriously, what information do they have?
National secrets? Launch codes? Pictures of Britney's crotch?
Yeah, advise them to lock down their system, but for crying out loud, stop acting like every computer breach and tress[pass is the end of the civilized world.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Well, he did promise to make what the White House does more transparent to the American voters. So maybe it was a pilot script for the new reality TV series, "Obama's House"
You raise a good point. Even TFS says "'... both the FBI and the Secret Service came to the campaign with an ominous warning: 'You have a problem way bigger than what you understand,' an agent told Obama's team."
The old guard have spent the past 8 years stinking drunk with money and power and now 'Bama(and, apparently, most of the common Americans) wants change. Of course, that tinfoil hat theory implies that 'Bama and the old guard are at odds and Obama would be wise to reverse his stance re: telecom immunity.
Why would a guy who is just learning to get online, himself, care ?
http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.slashdot.org Errors found while checking this document as HTML5!
It's a good thing McCain doesn't know how to use a computer!
Kwisatz Haderach
Sell the spice to CHOAM
This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
I am not much for the whole conspiracy theory BS, but if I really wanted to, underhandedly, get more funding for my department/organization it would make sense to approach the likely candidates and tell them they have a problem. Then when either candidate comes into power it would be much easier to say: "we need more funding for 'cyber-defence' to protect the country from attacks. Attacks like you fell victim to not to long ago, remember?"
On a side note, I hate the word cyber in this context.
I say don't drink and drive, you might spill your drink. Before you get behind the wheel just stop and think.
Why would Obama or McCain have secret foreign policy plans in their campaign planning computers? The sensitive data here was most likely canvassing, financing, and advertising plans. They'd be very useful to the other campaign, or to a party supporting either campaign and planning to influence the election. Maybe unaffiliated but supportive organizations like those of T Boone Pickens and his democratic equivalent had this done.
"I zero-index my hamsters" - Willtor (147206)
95% of the unauthorized http accesses and port scans to my PC at home are from China. Go figure.
Your tinfoil hat is cutting off the circulation to your brain again.
You don't make the poor richer by making the rich poorer. - Winston Churchill
"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it"
-- Aristotle
This wouldn't be a problem if our political system did not practically require politicians to keep secrets and lie through their teeth.
The US is most heavily spied upon by Israel, there's a long history of it. Unlike many who spy on the US, they don't do so to bring our system down, but to a) gain leverage to affect US policy b) learn about where we're heading c) technology (not saying its OK that their reasons are a bit less malevolent, their goals are just different) They're in the somewhat unusual situation of having the existence of their country somewhat tied to what the US does (loath they'd be to admit it, though) both directly in our policies regarding them, and our policies w.r.t. other actors in the region. Dave
Obama seems to have somehow slipped through the vetting process. It's common knowledge that politicians should not have an independently functioning brain with an ability to grasp the overall picture. Did no one interview this guy to make sure he could be swayed by a $600/hr lobbiest in an expensive suit, or by advisers with hidden agendas? This, my fellow Americans, can lead to no good outcomes. Applying common sense and logic in this fashion will surely grind Washington D.C. to a halt.
Mark my words...this fool will be making decisions which will utterly confound both major parties. The only thing I can't determine is whether they'll strip his flesh like a school of piranhas or end up following him off the cliff of common sense. :-)
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
Feds: Hey you've been hacked... trust us, we know
Campaign: Um, so how do you know that?
Feds: They removed our backdoors
Campaign: Oh... right... so what are you going to do about it?
Feds: We only investigate if you reported it, but WE reported it to YOU, so YOU have to investigate it. See how that works?
Campaign: *grumble*
Sounds about right.
Uh, you don't have to hack any websites to get information about political donors. It'a all public knowledge. The candidates are required by law to report that kind of stuff. This was required even before McCain-Feingold fucked up our political system even further with their Campaign Finance Reform Bill. If they don't file these reports, or file them late, they have to pay significant fines.
Go to the Federal Election Commission's website and review all the campaign finance reports they've filed regularly since they declared their candidacy. For an easier view of the data, you can also go to http://www.campaignmoney.com/ and search on your own zip code to see how much money all your neighbors contributed to the last campaign.
No hacking required.
So, I'll refrained from criticizing any conservative or GOP positions, and simply deal with what's incorrect.
1. NAFTA - that story you link to is incorrect. A couple of days after the article you cite, both the Obama campaign and - more importantly - the Canadian embassy itself declared that no such assurances were made. So either they're all lying, or the first article that you cite got it wrong.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/03/03/politics/main3898313.shtml
2. Obama's position on coal is: We will probably need some coal as a transition away from foreign oil. But coal also comes with environmental risks, so clean coal is better than dirty coal.
That's not shifting, that's reasonable. Sometimes reality is nuanced. That's addressing different circumstances in a complex world.
3. There was and is absolutely no change in Obama's tax plans, or anywhere near it. That link you cite is not even from Obama speaking. That's Biden making a gaffe-tastic misstatement in a speech. The Obama campaign restated it's policy after Biden's misstatement - it says that in the very same article you cite.
4. As for Biden's transcribed dialogue - it seems quite clear to me. It's just transcribed from live human speech. Biden's saying "When the US and France kicked Hezbollah out of Lebanon, Barack and I wanted NATO forces moved in to fill the vacuum. Otherwise Hezbollah would walk back in."
So, in conclusion, I'd like to propose that, from this point forward, we criticize what people's actual articulated positions are, and see how their actions match up to those positions. Because, as an Obama supporter, I *want* to see Obama's positions and policies criticized from every possible angle. Both in formulation and in practice.
But let's stick with what Obama and others are actually intentionally saying (and will now be doing) - and not hearsay or misstatements. Let's concentrate on whether or not it will work, and why.
Sound good?
The Invisible Hand of the Free Market is what punches workers in the nuts.
In short it means that these institutions guard the campaign parties and monitor their internet.
Or it means that somebody hacked into Obama's account and tried to sell the info to the White House, and somebody else hacked into McCain's account and tried to bribe the White House...
ZuluPad, the wiki notepad on crack
Anonymous is just the 4chan equivalent of Anonymous Coward. It's not supposed to be a group or an identity. Some of them just decided "We Are Anonymous" sounded cool, but they were using the word in a completely literal sense.
We are Anonymous Coward, and we do not RTFA!
sage
To be fair, the article says the hackers were gathering "information on the evolution of both camps' policy positions", not secret foreign policy plans. But this still begs the question of your conclusion, since presumably that information is available to anyone with access to newspapers and the internet anyway. As you say, the more private version of this info might be useful to the other campaign but it's not going to be that interesting to foreign adversaries.
Her proper nickname is "Bible Spice".
I mean seriously, all those paranoid big chiefs sitting in powerful seats within government organizations? They have careers to protect. Why not make whoever gets into power fearful of the "outside world and it's dangers" before they even get into office? Sure would help get their policy in line with the policy of aforementioned big chiefs in government seats.
s/government/corporate
War or no war, we will have government. Halliburton and Blackwater are the prime suspects according to the "follow the money" school of investigation which was employed to discover the Watergate crimes. Beware the military-industrial complex.
"I can't imagine how things could get any worse!" (some guy) "That could just be failure of imaginatioÂn on your p
Yeah -- but there's always that 1/10th of 1% that have the opposite reaction to the Pax....