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Top-Secret NSA Report Details Russian Hacking Effort Days Before 2016 Election (theintercept.com)
Russian hacking groups played a larger role in the 2016 election than anyone realized, according to a highly-classified NSA document published today in The Intercept. The document reveals that a Russian intelligence operation sent spear-phishing emails to more than 100 local election officials days before the election, which ran through a hack of a U.S. voting software supplier. The Russian cyber espionage operation was functional for months before the 2016 U.S. election. From the report: It states unequivocally in its summary statement that it was Russian military intelligence, specifically the Russian General Staff Main Intelligence Directorate, or GRU, that conducted the cyber attacks described in the document: "Russian General Staff Main Intelligence Directorate actors ... executed cyber espionage operations against a named U.S. company in August 2016, evidently to obtain information on elections-related software and hardware solutions. ... The actors likely used data obtained from that operation to ... launch a voter registration-themed spear-phishing campaign targeting U.S. local government organizations." This NSA summary judgment is sharply at odds with Russian President Vladimir Putin's denial last week that Russia had interfered in foreign elections: "We never engaged in that on a state level, and have no intention of doing so." Putin, who had previously issued blanket denials that any such Russian meddling occurred, for the first time floated the possibility that freelance Russian hackers with "patriotic leanings" may have been responsible. The NSA report, on the contrary, displays no doubt that the cyber assault was carried out by the GRU.
And if there were, what difference would that make, now?
I'm betting zilch.
So, let's do nothing? Are you that worried it might delegitimize your guy? Is this where we're at, that we're so partisan we can't repel a foreign invader? That's straight out of the colonial playbook. Divide and conquer.
Reality is a slackware box running on a 386 tucked away in god's sock drawer.
So we go from "they hacked us" to "they tried to hack us"? Not quite the same accusation. Next it will go from "It was the Russian government" to "it was someone using an IP from Russia"...
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
The attempted/failed wiretapping of the Democratic National Committee's office in the Watergate Hotel during the 1972 Presidential Campaign didn't change the outcome of that election either.
I guess we should have ignored all that stuff back then.
If the Russians actually hacked into the voting machines at the poles and flipped Hillary votes to Donald votes, then yes they hacked the election. Since I have yet to hear this pushed forward, it sounds like all they did was reveal more dirt on Hillary.
Russians may have swayed public opinion but that's no different then what our news media does every day. Heck, the news media likely lost Hillary the election because of those polls. Democrats stayed home because they figured, "we got this and I liked Bernie more anyway".
But sure, let's just keep saying they hacked our election. If they didn't change votes cast then they didn't hack the election.
And no, I sure as hell didn't vote for Trump or Hillary.
And if there were, what difference would that make, now?
I'm betting zilch.
They use terms like 'played a larger role' to imply it without having to actually back it up.
The Rush Limbaugh theorem states that the media isn't an arm of the Democrat Party, rather, that the Democrat Party is an arm of the media. Think about it, which side is more organized and sends a cohesive voice nightly or hourly?
Life is not for the lazy.
Reality Winner? Seriously? The parents who named this poor kid are the ones who should be arrested.
Their anonymous source was Reality Leigh Winner. Bernie supporter. Now she will be a felon (if convicted). Anyway, she will never work in a government position again.
One down. How many more to come?
So those are the only options you can see? Ignore it or nuke it?
Well I knew that slashdot jumped the shark awhile back, but when most of the comments are defending the Russians, it's reached an all new low.
Yea, when I read that I said "Well that explains it".
This is the second time Hillary failed to become “the inevitable president”. Did Russia sabotage her plans last time? (Oh, Obama won the primaries. Hillary made sure she won those this time.)
Did Russia tell Hillary to rig the primaries to freeze our Sanders?
Did Russia get the DNC to provide Hillary the debate questions in advance? (She still did terrible anyway.)
Did Russia make Hillary collapse on their way to their car?
Did Russia encourage Bill to pardon Marc Rich, the billionaire donor to the Clinton campaign and the Clinton Foundation?
Did Russia tell Hillary to be so confident that she could ignore the (previously Democratic) rust belt states in her campaign?
Did Russia tell Hillary to lie about dodging sniper bullets in Bosnia?
Did Russia tell Hillary, when she was a working attorney, to get a rapist a sweet plea deal and then laugh when questioned about it?
Did Russia tell Hillary to call Bill sexual accusers “bimbos”?
Did Russia tell Hillary to say to the bankers that she would ring China with defensive missiles?
Did Russia tell Hillary to have Huma Aberdeen as her aide, assistant editor of a publication that believes in Muslim Sharia Law?
Did Russia tell Hillary to say she would make a no-fly zone in Syria when Russia was already in Syria?
Did Russia tell Hillary to laugh demonically about “came, saw, and kill” Kaddafi?
Did Russia tell Hillary to take bribes on numerous occasions in the form of speaking fees?
Did Russia tell Hillary to use the personal unsecured server?
Did Russia tell Hillary to delete emails that were subpoenaed?
Did Russia tell Hillary to have a corrupt charity?
Did Russia tell Hillary to call 31 million voters deplorable irredeemable racist sexist homophobic bigots?
Did Russia murder Seth Rich, DNC’s Director of Voter Enhancement? He was the Sanders supporter who was shot 4 times while on the ground in a “botched robbery” in which nothing was taken.
Did Russia get the Clintons to accept a bribe on the Uranium One deal? Well, yes, they did do that one.
(||) Nehmo (||)
If anything, that she was arrested lends credibility to the document being real.
And it does not appear the 'spear phishing' campaign actually resulted in access and subsequent distribution of any information beyond what's already been well publicized.
Every worldwide election in recent memory that went or was in danger of going the populists' way has been singled out as being meddled with by the Russians, from Brexit to France.
No one's going to call for a new election because Russians posted stuff on facebook any more than they would've called for a new election after Obama flew to London to campaign against Brexit.
what's funny here is the NSA is complaining about Russian spying... when the NSA has been violating the privacy of billions around the world for decades.
Move back to paper.
what's funny here is the NSA is complaining about Russian spying... when the NSA has been violating the privacy of billions around the world for decades.
Yes and the pentagon would complain if the russians bombed us despite the pentagon bombing brown skinned people all over the world for decades.
I guess it depends how long it takes for Trump to get impeached or otherwise unpresidented through a failed re-election. There is a reason the Trump administration is leaking like an open pipe (a sieve is not leaky enough for this metaphor). The distrust for this man goes beyond mere partisanship, and countless people are risking prison time to try to undo arguably the worst mistake in recent American history.
She probably should never work in a government position again. She has proven herself untrustworthy. Government secrets are important enough where even well-intentioned leakers need to be punished. We can't have every leaker be protected by their good intentions, or else there would be no secrets anymore.
That said, uncontrollable leaking is one of the failsafes of our democracy, and this is what it looks like when the immune system of democracy is rejecting it's new idiot commander.
How about understand exactly what happened, lock things down and educate people so it is at least harder to pull off next time? Or is that too common sense?
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
If you cannot identify a problem then how can anyone propose a solution?
(tech) Hey boss, the reactor is about 10 minutes away from melt-down. (boss) Unless you have a solution don't come whining to me with your problems.
Two of my imaginary friends reproduced once
I'm sure the Russians are the only ones trying to hack elections.
We've moved from secretly hacking elections to directly stumping for candidates we like:
https://www.theguardian.com/wo...
I don't think Obama is a French citizen - why should he impose his opinion on the French people if for no other reason than to influence the outcome of that election?
So you would do what? Bomb Russia?
Oh, I don't know. How about not roll back the sanctions you placed on them for doing exactly this?
How about getting the President to listen to his own National Security Advisor, and Secretaries of State and Defence, and vocally support Article 5 of the NATO treaty?
How about the administration not try to hide communications with them from their own government?
How about quit fucking lying about having no contact with them? If they're no threat, and if it's no big deal, then why lie? That's a real question—why so much deception? It makes no sense.
How about quit treating the whole situation as utterly innocuous, and without indulging in dated anti-Soviet rhetoric or blowing it off as it's perfectly normal, come to grips with the fact that Russia is a strategic competitor, and is opposed to many American interests?
How about admitting that the Putin administration has a stake in deligitimising democratic norms and processes, because doing so helps him maintain a increasingly tight grip on the Russian population, and maybe, you know, not fucking help with that?
Crumb's Corollary: Never bring a knife to a bun fight.
1) The truth ALWAYS matters
2) There is an active investigation into possible collusion with Russia.
3) Trump could be impeached.
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
It looks like Russia's patsies are out in force to make sure we ignore Russia's attack on our country's democracy.
Russia wants us to ignore their attack on our election so they can keep doing it.
If we step back and notice that a foreign country attacked the USA, and that we need to immediately secure our voting system, basic patriotism would compel us to act to secure our elections against foreign attacks.
Don't count on Donald Trump securing our voting machines any time soon. Trump is on Russia's payroll and only acts in their interest.
Donald Trump will continue undermining NATO but he'll never fight to secure our voting machines against Russian hacking. Wonder why...
This continued media frenzy became tiresome some time ago. Can we move on to something new to be outraged about?
You seem to be conflating "important" and "entertaining".
Important stuff is often quite boring, at least at the outset before you understand what's going on.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
Yea, they are not the only one. Oh wait. It didn't come from a legitimate news source like CNN, MSNBC, AP? The Intercept published the original article, multiple others picked up the arrest. DailyCaller, Heavy, etc...
And when they point to this, then YEAH IT HAPPENED.
Agree with most of you points but...
That's a real question—why so much deception? It makes no sense.
Not really... it makes perfect sense from the perspective that the Trump administration lies about goddamn everything, compulsively. So them lying about this doesn't actually stick out. Just yet another piss-on-our-face-and-tell-us-it's-raining move.
Someone had to do it.
When I hear that Russia bought votes, we can talk, but sending spam at voters?
No, not just voters, phishing attacks against voting hardware/software vendors and election officials. Basically, anyone who might have access into the equipment and procedures which manage the electoral process.
sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f(q{sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f});
The problem is that results like 2016 don't have any single cause. There are many things that had they been different could have changed the outcome.
Blame isn't like a hot potato: there's plenty for everyone. Clinton has her share of the blame. Her weak and passive messaging, and her over-reliance on dubious analytics in the face of clear field intelligence were both mistakes. Absent either of them and she would have won -- it was only a matter of swinging 100,000 strategically placed votes, about 1/100th of 1% of the votes cast.
This doesn't mean other things didn't cause her loss too, but the bottom line was that she was facing Donald Trump, a boorish reality TV clown and easily the stupidest and most ignorant man ever to win the presidency. She should have blown the doors of the election far beyond the reach of a few unlucky breaks or marginal meddling to matter.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
The doc is indeed legit: https://www.wsj.com/articles/u...
So you are saying that.... things can't be 2 things?
Intent != crime.
Generally speaking breaking into someone else's system and sending a spear phishing email would get you well into illegal.
Quoting form the NPR's article at: http://www.npr.org/2017/06/05/...
VR Systems, a Florida-based election systems provider referenced in the material, said in a statement:
"When a customer alerted us to an obviously fraudulent email purporting to come from VR Systems, we immediately notified all our customers and advised them not to click on the attachment. We are only aware of a handful of our customers who actually received the fraudulent email and of those, we have no indication that any of them clicked on the attachment or were compromised as a result."
Now we can argue on if it impacted the results of the election. I don't think anyone knows the answer to that question, but it now appears the question of if there was an attempt by someone to infiltrate the electoral system is pretty solidly answered.
Attribution is a trickier problem, but I'll buy that the NSA has pretty good resources at its fingers for that, and they seem pretty conclusive in the documents provided by the Intercept.
It'll be interesting to see how this comes out, but I'm now convinced that a crime occurred, since VR Systems has confirmed such and any vested interest they have in the matter would be to deny rather then confirm, as it'll undoubtedly damage them commercially going forward.
Min
On the whole, I find that I prefer Slashdot posts to twitter ones because I don't get limited to 140 chars before
I don't see the name Hillary mentioned anywhere.
You didn't even know about said phishing campaign until now, and only because the NSA told you so, but you're confident that you know all the effects and whether or not they were successful.
Yeah, but back then, there was a coverup where a bunch of people working for the White House lied about stuff, and then the President fired the guy running the investigation...
Rule 35 of the internet: "If it can be hacked, it will be". - Charles Stross
... and countless people are risking prison time to try to undo arguably the worst mistake in recent American history.
That would be not nominating Bernie for the win?
...and he's damn hard to cover up! Whenever his lackeys try, Trump twitters something that directly contradicts them.
They raised her to become a person who'd, though only 9 or 10 when 9.11. happened, pick up Pashto, Farsi and Dari languages and join US Air Force as a linguist, where she served for 6 years.
http://edition.cnn.com/2017/06...
Not to mention the whole thing where they raised her to speak out about issues of public interest.
Such as evidence of attacks on the USA by a foreign government, while said attacks are denied by both the said foreign government - and the current USA administration which has landed the job in part thanks to said attacks.
At the expense of own liberty, job, future...
Some people really take that oath thing about "support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic" seriously.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
Doesn't bother me at all. Espionage and propaganda are universally used by countries, including the US. And Soviet influence on US elections and government was much stronger in the 1950's and 1960's and is still strongly influencing today's political debates. But that's the price you pay for having a free society.
Well, and Trump's "dirty secrets" also came out, like the "grab them by the pussy" comment. In the end, American voters evaluate the sources, credibility, and relevance of information about their candidates. That's what we have elections for.
You're both enormously naive and enormously hypocritical.
There is not enough money to properly secure enough voting machines for everyone to vote.
Seriously. Why are we throwing money at this. Paper ballots are auditable and have been good enough for hundreds of years. Quit trying to fix EVERYTHING with technology.
I've always though the solution was *incredibly simple. Have an electronic voting machine that *also prints out a paper copy of the voter's selections.
The voter verifies the paper ballot and drops in a slot at the machine to register the vote.
So you now have complete paper ballots and complete electronic ballots.
Randomly check some number of precincts in every election to verify the counts match.
If there's a discrepancy then count the paper from all the precincts and use that total.
So now you've gained ~85% of the benefit offered by electronic voting (speed, accuracy, etc. etc) and lost none of the accountability.
This seems incredibly simple and workable.
Which is probably why it will never happen.