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Russian Hackers Launch Targeted Cyberattacks Hours After Trump's Win (vice.com)

Posted by msmash on from the aftermath dept.

Hours after Donald Trump won the Presidential Election, a group of hackers that is widely believed to be Russian and was involved in the breach of the Democratic National Committee launched a wave of attacks against dozens of people working at universities, think tanks, NGOs, and even inside the US government. From a report on Motherboard:Around 9 a.m. ET on Wednesday, the hackers sent a series of phishing emails trying to trick dozens of victims into opening booby-trapped attachments containing malware, and clicking on malicious links, according to security firm Volexity, which observed and reported the five attack waves. The targets work for organizations such as Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, the Atlantic Council, the RAND Corporation, and the State Department, among others. One of the phishing emails included a forwarded message appearing to be from the Clinton Foundation, apparently sent by a professor at Harvard. The email used the professor's real address, and according to Volexity's founder Steven Adair, it's likely that the professor got hacked and the attackers then used his account to send out the phishing emails. (The professor did not respond to a request for comment.) One of the targets, who shared the email she received with Motherboard, said she "almost fell for it."

8 of 160 comments (clear)

  1. Bogus Story... or mal/mis-informed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

    Yeah, right.
    Putin called Trump immediately after the official announcement to congratulate him on his election victory.

    Trump has stated that he plans to mend the relationship with Russia. People in Russia are relieved because
    Hillary was threatening to put into place a "no fly zone" in Syria when Russia ALREADY has a no fly zone BY INVITATION
    from the democratically elected Syrian Government.

    Trump also would like to ramp down NATO, which BTW, at this time has Russia encircled with missile "defense" systems pointed at
    Russia.

    So this story makes ZERO sense... unless it is intended to sway sentiment against Russia...

    1. Re:Bogus Story... or mal/mis-informed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      It is.

      For whatever fucktarded reason - probably because they're being led by the nose by old senile fucks - people are jonesing for Cold War 2.0.

      I mean, I can almost understand it - the Cold War era provided some of the best Hollywood movies. Brutalist architecture, an angry sounding language, and frigid temperatures are all a bit more scary than Achmed bin Jihadi and his hole-filled cast-off American t-shirt and pants as he screeches from the back of a beat up Toyota.

      There's something to be said for being able to be hysterical against an enemy that's actually a threat.

      But Russia isn't. They don't have the economy. They don't have the military. And screaming about them like it's the 1960s won't change that.

  2. Of course they do by quax · · Score: 3, Insightful

    With a bit of active help they got the president they wanted. Why stop now?

  3. Proof by bmo · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Anyone with a passing familiarity with malware knows that such spear-phishing scams may be /anyone/ /anywhere/.

    So they're Russian, you say? (picture of Putin glowering at the top of the article) How come you're so /certain/ it's the Russian government and not, you know, the Russian Mob (Russian Business Network and affiliates) or someone in the RBN pretending to be FSB or any combination of Russian speaking expatriates or even the CIA posing as FSB or RBN or something much more mundane?

    >undetectable
    >detected
    >passed by the filters

    BECAUSE ANYONE WITH ANY SENSE IN HIS HEAD WHO IS WRITING MALWARE HAS ALL THESE FILTERS THEMSELVES TO MAKE SURE THEY PASS BEFORE RELEASING INTO THE WILD.

    This has been standard operations for malware for the past, oh, nearly 20 years. Because the filters are only as good as the latest definitions and anything not in the definitions is going to skate right on by. THIS IS NOT NEW.

    I'm treating these nearly fact-free vague news stories like this as pure propaganda, because that's what they are. Like our top-secret-hush-hush "CLANDESTINE" retaliations at the putative "russians" /announced/ on NBC News (fucking really?).

    This fucking forced march into a new Cold War is fucking stupid. The clowns that have been pushing for it since the collapse of the Soviet Union need to be imprisoned at the very least.

    --
    BMO

    1. Re:Proof by rholtzjr · · Score: 1, Insightful

      They have to distract us in anyway possible in order to not have us look too closely at what is behind the curtain and what they are really doing. They really need to come up with a better tactic other than "Look over here, look over here, pay no attention to the person behind the curtain".

    2. Re:Proof by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

      And the obligatory paid Russian troll. How's the weather in St. Petersburg?

      Anyone with a passing familiarity with malware knows that such spear-phishing scams may be /anyone/ /anywhere/.

      So they're Russian, you say? (picture of Putin glowering at the top of the article) How come you're so /certain/ it's the Russian government and not, you know, the Russian Mob (Russian Business Network and affiliates)

      doesn't matter, they're pretty much the same entity

      or someone in the RBN pretending to be FSB or any combination of Russian speaking expatriates or even the CIA posing as FSB or RBN

      no motive

      or something much more mundane?

      yes, I'm absolutely sure some random mundane l33t skript-kiddie in his mommy's basement has the necessary resources to conduct a full-scalle attack like this

      I'm treating these nearly fact-free vague news stories like this as pure propaganda, because that's what they are. Like our top-secret-hush-hush "CLANDESTINE" retaliations at the putative "russians" /announced/ on NBC News (fucking really?).

      This fucking forced march into a new Cold War is fucking stupid. The clowns that have been pushing for it since the collapse of the Soviet Union need to be imprisoned at the very least.

      --
      BMO

      You're treating them the way Putin pays you to, of course. Now go back to trying to convince everyone that people from FSB, GRU, KGB and the like are paid to walk the streets of Moscow and pet any cute puppies they meet, and not to do stuff like that. Good luck with that. Just remember, it's not Russia, so people aren't as brainwashed as you are.

  4. Put the proof on the table by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    or shut the f-ck up. The Russian hacker boogey-man bullshit is getting tiresome, and nobody believes it anymore. Anyone can compromise machines anywhere in the world and launch attacks from them, and the only ones who have been proven to do so are the NSA, so this is more likely some bullshit propaganda scare again. Show us the irrefutable proof that Russian state-sponsored hackers are attacking U.S. systems, or stop posting crap like this.

  5. See the difference? by Okian+Warrior · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Perhaps a headline rewrite will put things in perspective:

    Russian Hackers Launch Targeted Cyberattacks Hours After Clinton's loss

    Emphasis mine.

    See the difference?