Hackers Came, But the French Were Prepared (nytimes.com)

Adam Nossiter, David E. Sanger, and Nicole Perlroth, reporting for the New York Times: Everyone saw the hackers coming. The National Security Agency in Washington picked up the signs. So did Emmanuel Macron's bare-bones technology team. And mindful of what happened in the American presidential campaign, the team created dozens of false email accounts, complete with phony documents, to confuse the attackers (Editor's note: the link could be paywalled; alternative source). The Russians, for their part, were rushed and a bit sloppy, leaving a trail of evidence that was not enough to prove for certain they were working for the government of President Vladimir V. Putin but which strongly suggested they were part of his broader "information warfare" campaign. The story told by American officials, cyberexperts and Mr. Macron's own campaign aides of how a hacking attack intended to disrupt the most consequential election in France in decades ended up a dud was a useful reminder that as effective as cyberattacks can be in disabling Iranian nuclear plants, or Ukrainian power grids, they are no silver bullet. The kind of information warfare favored by Russia can be defeated by early warning and rapid exposure.

Comments

Re:propaganda

[MightyMartian]

I have my doubts that Trump won because there are enough alt-right white supremacists out there. He won in large part because Clinton sucked, and probably with some help from Comey's interference in the election, not to mention helpful Russian hacking of the DNC and feeding it to Assange.

But while the DNC hack and release is something of a work of art, the Macron dump has enough absurd documents to show that it was pretty damned inept, a last minute attempt to sway the French election.

Re:You have to be a real 'tard to deny the Russian

[ShanghaiBill]

Since America and France have never interfered in the internal affairs of other countries, it is outrageous that they are interfering in ours.

Re:You have to be a real 'tard to deny the Russian

[Tailhook]

You have to be a real 'tard to think it matters.

Hillary didn't lose because Russia. The Russians didn't make Hillary take the rust belt for granted. Hillary wasn't operating an illegal mail system to hide her actively from the Russians. The Russians didn't make Hillary's staff destroy government documents during an investigation. The Russians didn't make Hillary sick. The Russians had nothing to do with wrapping the US around the transgender bathroom axle for a year. The Russians didn't coin "irredeemable deplorables" and alienate millions of the Democrats traditional working class base. The Russians didn't tell lies about the slaughter of US ambassadors. The Russians had nothing to do with the DNC fucking over Bernie Sanders and obviating many of his supporters. The Russians weren't responsible for shit polling or naive candidates making bad decisions based on it. The Russians had nothing to do with Huma and her perv husbands antics. The Russians did not pay Hillary for her speeches to the banker establishment or tell her to withhold the transcripts. None of the small constellation of women Bill Clinton made famous with his cock were Russians. Nothing the Russians ever said in support of TPP was attributed to Hillary; those were her own words, and the Russians weren't the reason no one believed Hillary when she flip-flopped on it.

But yeah, "Russia did it we was robbed!111."

Keep believing it. The more deluded you are the better.