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Hack of Democrats' Accounts Was Wider Than Believed, Officials Say (nymag.com)

A Russian cyberattack that targeted Democratic politicians was bigger than it first appeared and breached private email accounts of more than 100 party officials and groups (could be paywalled; alternate source), reports The New York Times, citing officials with knowledge of the case. From the report: The widening scope of the attack has prompted the F.B.I. to broaden its investigation, and agents have begun notifying a long list of Democratic officials that the Russians may have breached their personal accounts. The main targets appear to have been the personal email accounts of Hillary Clinton's campaign officials and party operatives, along with a number of party organizations. Officials have acknowledged that the Russian hackers gained access to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which is the fund-raising arm for House Democrats, and to the Democratic National Committee, including a D.N.C. voter analytics program used by Mrs. Clinton's presidential campaign.

28 of 285 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Wait for the conspiracy by parallel_prankster · · Score: 3, Funny

    The Democrats are very busy people. Between starting ISIS and bringing in refugees to kill Americans, how do they find time to even hack their own accounts! And I haven't even mentioned the making false birth certificates to make the ISIS founder, the President!

  2. Seriously: wouldn't ever happen to Republicans by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    This wouldn't happen to Republicans, because they're so old. They'd get competent sysadmins to run the servers, proficient clerks to print out their emails each morning, and they'd dictate their replies to a transcriptionist who can remember her fucking password.

    1. Re:Seriously: wouldn't ever happen to Republicans by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Applause for changing the subject away from the very damaging contents of these emails. There are persuasion courses that charge top dollar to teach these things. The Democratic Party in America is not what everyone thought it was. They are racist, elitist, election-fixing, democracy-shitting-on assholes. People all over the world have been shocked by just how evil they were revealed to be. But on stories like this, change the subject as often as possible, that's a solid move. Get people talking about ANYTHING other than what we all saw the Democratic Party really means.

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
  3. There used to be a time... by jothar+hillpeople · · Score: 5, Insightful

    There used to be a time when the press acted as investigative journalists, and worked with whistleblowers to expose political corruption and hold politicians accountable for their actions (think Watergate). This was lauded as necessary for the function of the country. Now, this function has been outsourced to the FSB, and the corruption they reveal is denigrated as "interfering with the sanctity of the electoral process". How about the press goes back to being watch dogs instead of lap dogs, shake off the "Democrats with bylines" label,expose the corruption themselves, and undermine the FSB?

    1. Re:There used to be a time... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      Actually, the news doesn't have a huge left wing problem. If it did, Bernie Sanders would have been flooding the news last election and they would have frozen out someone else.

      We have a huge establishment media problem. And the establishment is mostly right wing which is what our media is overall compared to most other nations.

      The main times I see left wing stuff brought up it is typically some protest on police violence or something to drive a divide. Outside of those wedge issues, the media is pretty firmly right wing on policies of actual substance.

    2. Re:There used to be a time... by Fire_Wraith · · Score: 4, Informative

      Odd, because if anything, I see the exact opposite. From my experience, the (big/mainstream) media seems very keen on trying to achieve false balance, even to the point of ridiculousness, by giving "both sides" the opportunity to say whatever their position is, even if one of those is grossly factually incorrect. They get lambasted by both sides for it, albeit usually at different times.

      And if anything, the push to replace fact-based media with opinion-based hasn't come from journalism schools, it's come from the rise of explicitly partisan media, first on the right, and then followed by the left. The cry of "biased mainstream media" has been a largely self-serving one, both from politicians whose interest it was to push back on evidence-based yet unfavorable stories, never-mind from the purveyors of alternate media who have it in their direct interest to attack their competition. And it's not going away, either - the internet enables everyone to access any number of sources, right or wrong, evidence or opinion based.

      Ultimately, it's not possible anymore to simply rely on someone else to do your critical thinking for you. You, the reader, have to assess things like the bias of the source, their past record, the evidence presented, et cetera. Don't trust it just because website X or news commentator Y said so. This goes for everyone, not just right or left or center.

    3. Re:There used to be a time... by swb · · Score: 3, Insightful

      IMHO, the "Democrats with bylines" label has become a real problem, even to the point now where journalists have invented a debate where they ask with Trump if they even have to bother with the kabuki theater of neutral journalism. My sense is that this is a symptom of collective bias infused with personal rage. They're so disgusted with him on an ideological level that they can't even maintain a level of professional neutrality.

      I'm no Trump supporter, but the media and especially the print media seems to massively misquote and misinterpret him. On too many occasions I've seen him speak in video clips and the stories that wind up in print about the same sound bites that appeared in the videos seem as if the reporters are paranoid schizophrenics. Maybe Trump has a manner of speaking that doesn't translate to print, or maybe reporters are willfully twisting his words, or some other reasonable explanation, but so often the media coverage of him seems entirely disconnected from reality, giving the appearance of extreme bias.

      The bias was more subtle against Sanders in favor of Clinton, but the media's unquestioning support and lack of criticism of her seems extremely apparent to me.

    4. Re:There used to be a time... by Anonymous+Cow+Ward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I have to agree - I dislike Trump on both a personal and ideological level, but so much of what is said about him is bafflingly untrue. And that just makes his supporters more rabid, because now they have evidence that what he's saying - the media is a collusion, they're covering things up, he's an outsider who will change things - is true. And the more that, in their heads, he's right about one thing, the more likely they think he is to be right about other things.

      He gets more support from independents that way too; they don't like him to start with, but if they find out that they've been lied to, the urge to cast a protest vote becomes stronger, and the desire to support the establishment candidate dwindles.

      --
      Examine even your most deeply held beliefs. Nobody is always right.
    5. Re:There used to be a time... by swb · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I have to agree - I dislike Trump on both a personal and ideological level, but so much of what is said about him is bafflingly untrue. And that just makes his supporters more rabid, because now they have evidence that what he's saying - the media is a collusion, they're covering things up, he's an outsider who will change things - is true. And the more that, in their heads, he's right about one thing, the more likely they think he is to be right about other things.

      Part of me thinks I should really dislike him on so many levels, but I've just seen so many instances where the media just wildly misquotes or misinterprets what he says in the most negative way possible that it gets hard to trust why I don't like him, without feeling like I'm falling for a propaganda technique.

    6. Re:There used to be a time... by Anonymous+Cow+Ward · · Score: 3, Interesting

      That's fair. I base my dislike of him partly on what he actually says - speeches, etc. and partly from the positions he takes on his website. But I agree that my dislike for him decreased when I started looking just at what he says, not at what people say about him.

      --
      Examine even your most deeply held beliefs. Nobody is always right.
  4. Re:Wait for the conspiracy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Maybe I missed publication of some definitive proof, but this story kind of says the Russians did this, unqualified. We've seen some similarly confident attributions in the past that turned out to be wrong. Convenient, but wrong.

    If I were Putin, and I had dirt on Clinton, I'd hang on to it until she were President. Much more leverage that way.

  5. "A Russian cyberattack that targeted Democratic.." by colin_faber · · Score: 4, Informative

    Huh? Because VPN IP address? Again, TrustConnect's analysis was good, it traced back to a Russian VPN service provider. The rest of their analysis was best wild guessing.

    The NYT article (which IMHO has become a water carrier for the Clinton's) references it's own story, which again incorrectly assumes that Russia is involved because of the TrustConnect's best guess. But TrustConnect even acknowledges that the originating network is obfuscated behind the VPN provider.

    I hate this tactic of the main stream media outlets. They take questionable information, then report on it as if it was fact, then pile onto that by continuing further reporting all based off of the original questionable information by citing earlier articles they've produced.

  6. Re:"A Russian cyberattack that targeted Democratic by geek · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Left hand doesn't know what the right is doing. I find it strangely ironic though that hackers have broken all of the major news stories this election cycle and it's the reports trying to cover them all up. Fucked up world we're in these days.

  7. Re:Wait for the conspiracy by meta-monkey · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The story says unnamed American intelligence officials have "high confidence" it was the Russians.

    However, I don't know how they've determined that. The only analysis I've seen was from the private security firm hired by the DNC to investigate after the attack. They found circumstantial evidence the hack originated from Russia (Cyrillic letters in metadata, timestamps that correspond with waking hours in Russia, etc). However, that doesn't mean it was state sponsored. There are lots of hackers in Russia and not all of them are getting rubles from Putin.

    What we know: circumstantial evidence the hack originated in Russia.

    What the media's running with: Trump is a secret agent taking orders from Putin who personally haxx0red the DNC and if you don't elect Hillary Clinton then Trump is going to take orders from Putin and invade Europe and/or nuke everyone.

    --
    We don't have a state-run media we have a media-run state.
  8. Re:"A Russian cyberattack that targeted Democratic by meta-monkey · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I hate this tactic of the main stream media outlets. They take questionable information, then report on it as if it was fact, then pile onto that by continuing further reporting all based off of the original questionable information by citing earlier articles they've produced.

    It's almost as if their primary goal is propaganda instead of the reporting of facts...

    --
    We don't have a state-run media we have a media-run state.
  9. Where's your evidence? by Okian+Warrior · · Score: 3, Informative

    Trump doesn't want his friend Putin and his friends to get tied to this too much.

    Did you do know that Clinton (as SoS) sold 20% of American Uranium reserves to Russia, and coincidentally the Clinton foundation received massive donations from Russia?

    Did you know that Clinton (as SoS) sold advanced technology to Russia and coincidentally received "tens of millions" of dollars in donations to the Clinton foundation? (Dual-use technology, things that can be used for both industry and military.)

    Did you know that Clinton (as SoS) organized and helped build the "Russian Silicon Valley", which opened many US companies to industrial espionage? (17 of 28 companies, both Russian and American, made financial commitments to the Clinton Foundation or sponsored speeches by Bill Clinton.)

    Out of curiosity, when you say Trump and Putin are friends, what's your evidence?

    1. Re:Where's your evidence? by david_thornley · · Score: 3, Informative

      Clinton was part of a group of people who decided to let Russia buy the uranium company, partly as a gesture of goodwill towards Russia. At that time, Russia was being a lot friendlier, and there was good reason to encourage this. It turned out not to work, but it was a reasonable idea at the time, and Clinton was only one of several who made the decision.

      I'm not familiar with the other two things you mention, but I'd like to see a lot more details from actually reputable sources before taking them seriously.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
  10. Can we stop repeating the "Russian" meme?.. by mi2 · · Score: 4, Informative

    The idea, that Russians are behind this is a red herring. Put out by anonymous sources it serves only to change the topic — from the contents of the e-mails and the negligence of the Democratic officials (including their Presidential nominee).

    According to Assange, for example, Wikileaks got their data from DNC-sources including the misteriously murdered Seth Conrad Rich.

    Maybe, Russians were involved too, maybe not. But the facts remain: DNC officials (including Hillary Clinton herself) are incompetent in computer security and dishonest.

    --
    Why is my real account disabled?
  11. Re:Wait for the conspiracy by DarkOx · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Well sure but I think that was case where Putin wanted just enough deniability to avoid legal consequences without it being entirely clear he is above the law at home, but at the same time sending an unmistakable message to other wood be dissidents.

    He wanted it know who did it.

    Its not nearly so clear to me why he would want it know He/KGB/Russia Gov is behind the DNC hack. Its not like US Democrats are likely to change policy positions because they fear Russians are going to put a hit on them or something. Having their finger prints on it allows the DNC to try and conflate, confuse, and distract from any issues revealed in the leaks by talking about and tieing them to some kinda bizarre Russian conspiracy. Do so degrades the impact of the leaks themselves so why bother in the first place.

    The real possibilities are:

    1) The Russian finger prints are plants to lead people away from the actual responsible party
    2) The KGB was just sloppy
    3) It was a non-state but possible Russia based group, that was sloppy

    --
    Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
  12. Re: Wait for the conspiracy by hackwrench · · Score: 3, Funny

    I'd sign up to be a part of Dogbert's ruling class, but I can't afford the fee. :)

  13. Re:Wait for the conspiracy by meta-monkey · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Also, Assange has been hinting that the leak came from a DNC staffer, and not a hack at all.

    The only people who benefit from the "Russian involvement" narrative is the DNC themselves.

    --
    We don't have a state-run media we have a media-run state.
  14. Re:"A Russian cyberattack that targeted Democratic by Citizen+of+Earth · · Score: 4, Interesting

    "Reporters are faced with the daily choice of painstakingly researching stories or writing whatever people tell them. Both approaches pay the same." -- Scott Adams, _The Dilbert Principle_

  15. Re:Wait for the conspiracy by hackwrench · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The Democrats can point at Russia and distract from the contents of the emails. The Democrats now owe Putin a favor.

  16. Re:Wait for the conspiracy by MillionthMonkey · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Also, Assange has been hinting that the leak came from a DNC staffer, and not a hack at all.

    Assange has had an extensive relationship with the Russian government. He's even hosted a television show on a Russian state-owned network. And he's made it quite clear that he wants her to lose.

    The only people who benefit from the "Russian involvement" narrative is the DNC themselves.

    And therefore it can't be true? What kind of logic is that?

  17. Re:Wait for the conspiracy by meta-monkey · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Assange has had an extensive relationship with the Russian government. He's even hosted a television show on a Russian state-owned network. And he's made it quite clear that he wants her to lose.

    Therefore the leak didn't come from a DNC staffer? What kind of logic is that?

    The truth is, we do not know if the documents came from a leak or a hack, and we do not know the identity of the leaker(s)/hacker(s). It would be nice if the media would 1. dig more into the content of the leaks and 2. investigate the source of the leaks and give us facts rather than try to spin some kind of "Trump is a Russian plant" conspiracy theory.

    --
    We don't have a state-run media we have a media-run state.
  18. Re:Wait for the conspiracy by phantomfive · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This election is surreal. On the one hand, we have Hitler. On the other hand, we have a murderer who takes orders from satan himself.

    Neither of these things is remotely close to real. Donald Trump is a dork, and Hillary Clinton is an awkward idealist who's been jaded somewhat by bumping into life. Neither one will destroy the country. Neither one will be Hitler.

    After muddling through another 4-8 years, the country will have another election where we hear that it's again Hitler against the antichrist, and somehow people will believe again that it might actually be true.

    --
    "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
  19. Re:Wait for the conspiracy by meta-monkey · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The assessment by the intelligence community of Russian involvement in the D.N.C. hacking, which largely echoes the findings of private cybersecurity firms that have examined the electronic fingerprints left by the intruders, leaves President Obama and his national security aides with a difficult diplomatic and political decision: whether to publicly accuse the government of President Vladimir V. Putin of engineering the hacking.

    Why would they need to do that when there is no evidence the hack was state sponsored? The reason Obama can't accuse Putin of engineering the hacking isn't because "diplomatic tensions" but because there's no evidence the Russian government had anything to do with it. There's only circumstantial evidence the attacks even came from Russian soil. I'm not saying they didn't do it. I'm saying we literally don't know. I can only surmise the media is pretending like it's a set-in-stone fact is because it helps the Democrats politically to be seen as the victims of foreign aggression and distracts from the embarrassing content of the leaks.

    Since the media reporting this falsely, do you think they're doing so because they're lying, or because they're incompetent?

    Trump has made it clear that he perceives NATO as some sort of protection racket

    Isn't it, though?

    As far as nukes, Trump says he "isn't going to take cards off the table", whatever that means.

    Of course not. I would never vote for someone who says they would categorically never use nukes, because that defeats the purpose of nukes as a deterrent if you've already sworn never to use them.

    Do you think the nuke card should be taken off the table? Why?

    --
    We don't have a state-run media we have a media-run state.
  20. and? by s.petry · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I don't get the point you are trying to make. GP stated that "The Press" is no longer performing it's function and that the solution is to move back to being journalists. Are you suggesting that the expectation should be to give up and/or commit suicide because the media has been consumed by corruption? Or are you advocating a positive change in a bad way?

    The "Press" in the US today has become what we used to make fun of in other countries. Baghdad Bob telling people how Iraq was crushing the Americans is no different than every media outlet yesterday (I checked 8 networks and 2 independent radio stations who call themselves conservative) falsely claiming that Trump said to assassinate Hillary. The dishonesty we are seeing from the Press is what we saw in the Pravda in Russia.

    Unfortunately the lack of media credibility is causing a secondary set of media problems. Certain people and third party media may provide better truths but include messages of their own which are not part of the truth. We can say that some of it is for money, but another aspect is to distort reality in the opposite direction of the broadcast media. Sadly I distrust _all_ media at the moment and check sources. There is a reason people extract 5-8 second sound bites and invent a narrative around it, and that reason has nothing to do with you, your country, your best interests, or concerns for your welfare.

    When it comes to media it's probably about time to format and rebuilt. If you asked, I'd suggest the same for both major political parties.

    --

    -The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.