Slashdot Mirror
Dutch Intelligence Agents Watched Russia Hack the DNC (volkskrant.nl)
Long-time Slashdot readers Agilulf, Sara Chan, and wiredmikey -- plus an anonymous reader -- all submitted the same story. Agilulf writes:
Dutch hackers from AIVD (their intelligence agency) infiltrated Russian hackers, had access to their CCTV system, and followed them for more than a year, watched their attack on the DNC, provided the proof to the U.S. intelligence community that Russia was behind those hacks and the stolen emails, and were disappointed with the response from the U.S.
The Dutch agents also watched Russian agents breach a non-classified network at the U.S. State Department in 2014, where the Russians then sent a phishing email to the White House, successfully stole login credentials, and then accessed email from embassies and diplomats.
"Three American intelligence services state with 'high confidence' that the Kremlin was behind the attack on the Democratic Party," according to the article, which adds that that certainty "is derived from the AIVD hackers having had access to the office-like space in the center of Moscow for years."
The Dutch agents also watched Russian agents breach a non-classified network at the U.S. State Department in 2014, where the Russians then sent a phishing email to the White House, successfully stole login credentials, and then accessed email from embassies and diplomats.
"Three American intelligence services state with 'high confidence' that the Kremlin was behind the attack on the Democratic Party," according to the article, which adds that that certainty "is derived from the AIVD hackers having had access to the office-like space in the center of Moscow for years."
So the emails were real. Not fake.
"The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old......They literally know nothing." - Ben Rhodes
How does anyone know whether to believe any of this stuff any longer?
It seems to be that all these "cyber espionage" stories consist of impossible to verify leaks (intentional or otherwise) about other impossible to verify leaks. I guess it probably is true that some emails were leaked by someone, but after that everything could be no more true than the contents of a John le Carré novel and the latter would be a better read!
If I am not mistaken, this is the arm that used to be the Militaire Inlichtingendienst (Military Intelligence). They were pretty good, but also kept secret out of sight of Parliament. When they came to light they were merged with the existing counterintelligence agency BVD (Binnenlandse Veiligheidsdienst, Internal Security), which did have a Keystone Kops reputation.
So, take it with a grain of salt, indeed, but don't dismiss it outright.
"I know I will be modded down for this": where's the option '-1, Asking for it'?
As a Dutch person myself, I'm quite sure this is mostly (if not completely) propaganda. The original story provides 0 proof of anything and shows several inconsistencies.
This comment section makes CNN commenters look like Rhodes scholars.
Funny isn't it how the DNC/Clinton/Podesta never denied the contents of the emails that were released, instead they did what they always do when the truth is revealed, the deflect from the message and attack the messenger.
How many times does it need to be said? Crying about the popular vote is just moving the goalposts from the election rules that have been in place since Thomas Jefferson.
I fucking hate Trump, but he got the ELECTORAL VOTES necessary to win the Presidency. If you don't like that, then work to not nominate the only person from the Democratic Party that had enough negatives to actually lose to that asshole. Or, convince the DNC to actually campaign somewhere between the mountain ranges not named Chicago. Or get them to stop trying to sell out the middle class to Wall Street yet again. Or using the middle class's children to protect "American" (read: corporate) interests abroad in the guise of national military service.
Those last two sentences apply equally to the Republican Party, if not more so. Just to be somewhat Neutral, here's an incomplete list of things the Republicans should stop doing:
- bloviating about balanced budgets and government spend while treating massive military spending as a sacred cow that must be increased while cutting everything else
- ridiculously craven jingoistic politics and the treating of hard working immigrants that just want a better life for themselves and their families as a punching bag in order to toss metaphorical "red meat" to the fraction of ignorant racists and bigots in their "base"
- pretending that religion has any place in the federal government whatsoever
Also, impeachment has a definition, with procedures defined behind it. "We don't like him" is not included in "treason, bribery, or other high crimes or misdemeanors" and you should be glad for that, or every single President would constantly be having fringe cranks from the opposition party drumming up real impeachment resolutions in Congress rather than the joke speeches and stunts we get today.
If he's actually committed any of those crimes, and you have proof, call your representative and hand over the evidence. Otherwise, wait for the Office of the Independent Counsel to complete their investigation and issue their report. Please. I'd love to see that guy being perp lwaked from the White House by the FBI.
Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
Collusion and collaboration isn't necessary - all that is necessary is INTENT to solicit foreign aid/items of value for an election campaign - that itself is illegal and crime, and has already been demonstrated by the emails between them.