Slashdot Mirror
Leaked Chats Show Alleged Russian Spy Seeking Hacking Tools (securityweek.com)
wiredmikey writes: The leak of an alleged Russian hacker's conversations with a security researcher shows more about the shadowy group of 12 Russian spies indicted by the FBI for targeting the 2016 U.S. election. The researcher, who gave her exchanges with the alleged hacker to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity, said she wasn't pleased to learn she had been corresponding with an alleged Russian spy. But she wasn't particularly surprised either.
Since when does a state-sponsored spy need to troll a researcher for hacking tools? This exchange is pretty strong evidence that the person is not a sanctioned "spy".
prove me wrong....
Every time a story like this comes up, a large number of folks raise objections to the very idea of investigating right-wing election issues.
Well, this isn't going away. Benghazi investigations lasted for 3 years, with zero convictions or even serious cases. If you in any way accepted that process, you have ZERO legs to stand against on an investigation that had already lead to multiple convictions and guilty pleas, and is currently involved in a large number of major court cases, increasing constantly.
And if push too hard to try and force it to stop, the protests will shut down this nation. They will be larger than anything we've ever seen.
None of this is going away.
Ryan Fenton
Comrade, where can I acquire Kali Linux for Proletariat?
Ve need tool against capitalist pigs, ve give ruble and vodka and possibly soccer ball in exchange.
Is anyone surprised?
The thing is, "Russian spy tries to spy" != "Trump is a Russian mole/dupe/partner/something, OMG lolz". Which is the implication we are apparently supposed to believe.
Just like the hot 18/f/CA that used to hang out in all of those AOL chatrooms I'm willing to bet that it's a big fat hairy dude sitting behind a desk somewhere in Langley Virginia.
fucking cyber man!!! it's the cyber I tell you!
The CIA's agents are always spies at all the world.
We'll see the end to it when you Trumptard fuckheads admit that Russia DID hack our elections and trolled the American public on social media. But since you're an R troll too, I'm not holding my breath.
Will we have to see stupid submissions like this wasting front page space
Yep, as long as you idiots keep denying the obvious truth.
he also wins the next election honestly and fairly?
I'll believe that when I see it, especially since he didn't win this one honestly or fairly. But keep sucking Putin's cock, he loves the marks the orange leaves on his Tightnik Whiteniks.
Thanks for the clarification, msmash.
It's more plausible that you're the Russian spy sent here to make Democrats look like imbeciles.
recently disclosed vulnerability codenamed CVE-2012-0002. Not a code name, article is invalid.
No, YOU'RE the Russian spy! Nyah, Nyah.
See, I can engage in moronic pseudo-speculation and retarded jingoism too!
Fucking idiot 6 year old mental case.
Because the NSA never taps the expertise of researchers outside of their own walls? That is preposterous.
Exploits are like any other commodity. You go to the people who have them, regardless of who they are.
Ever since 9/11 the country needed a new boogeyman to be scared of. We had the Taliban, then Saddam, then pedophiles, then ISIS, now it happens to be Russia. Trump used social media to get elected just like Obama did and now shit got real because the DNC gambled on Hillary and lost. I'm not a Democrat but I respect Bernie a hell of a lot more than Hillary.
Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
Russia didn't hack the election. They hacked DNC emails and bought Facebook ads. Funny how Facebook was alright in taking that money until Hillary lost.
Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
Maybe it's because FBI, CIA and Congressial Republicans all agree that there has been a Russian collusion during the election. And when Donald Trump, after meeting Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, first denied it, he backtracked the day after and admitted that there has been a strong Russian influence on the election.
Blame the Russians, because they know nothing will ever come of it.. Just a BS story to ignite their brainless base.
The Russians did try to influence the election, and has very solid evidence behind it. This says nothing bad whatsoever about Trump or that he colluded with them. However, by refusing to acknowledge the evidence and continually denying that Russia did anything does look bad for Trump, it makes him look like an ego-driven child. Worse, when Trump tries to hinder the investigation it hurts him legally. It's in Trump's own best interests to acknowlege the Russian issue is a real thing.
Where is the story here? Water is wet, just so you know.
The Clinton campaign was spending over $1 million per month in paid astrotrufing services. Correct the Record, Media Matters, etc, exist for the sole purpose of trolling online. They were celebrated for it.
SO let me get this straight.. You are claiming that Russia did two things..
1. Hacked the election - AS IN Changed the counted votes so they didn't match the actual votes cast...
2. Trolled on Social Media - AS in engaged in a disinformation campaign to change people's minds about who they'd vote for.
The problem with your assertions is as follows:
1. There is no evidence that any vote was counted differently than it was cast. NONE. This has been confirmed many, many times by the likes of Clapper and other officials from the previous administration who should know. I don't trust the last administration but I have no reason to doubt them on this. Do you?
2. This happened, but this is not new or unique with 20216's elections, it's been going on for centuries. Also, there is very little the USA can do about this. We can (and do) have laws that forbid foreign involvement, but we don't have jurisdiction to enforce these laws except on our soil. The USA cannot do much more than wag a finger at foreign leaders who try dabbling this way. Unless you think it's time to actually go to war over such propaganda, what else can we do? Tell them to 'cut it out!' ? You think that's going to work?
This whole thing has been nothing more than a bad circus sideshow. I think it's more of a excuse than anything else, something to haggle over to keep the political brinksmanship game going.
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
It was more of a distraction so those in charge of the DNC weren't held accountable for losing the most winnable election in a century to a circus clown and to give Clinton a pretext to run again in 2020.
It also gives the Dems an excuse to dismiss most of the country choosing to vote for said circus clown instead of their policies.
It's always been a setup. The establishment has framed this from the beginning as Trump working with the Russians to steal the election, not the simple meddling that's always taken place.
Probably. Mueller's investigation will never wrap up either; so long as it's active, it provides fodder for the media gristmill.Since there likely isn't really anything substantial to it, they have only the fumes and hopes to keep their vitriol and outrage up. It's the wind in their sails. They'll drag this out for another two years. Mueller knows that, just like the election results, they won't accept the results of his investigation if it isn't utterly damning. They'll turn on him.
Not if you've seen social media in the past 2 years. It's probably a genuine post.
Look back up at my post, now look back down, you're on the Internet. Now look back up. I'm a signature.
2. This happened, but this is not new or unique with 20216's elections, it's been going on for centuries. Also, there is very little the USA can do about this. We can (and do) have laws that forbid foreign involvement, but we don't have jurisdiction to enforce these laws except on our soil.
Moreover, those laws only prevent spending expressly in support of a given candidate; a foreign entity can purchase all the "issue ads" they want, without any problem whatsoever. As long as you do not push a specific candidate, and keep it to issues-only, then you are 100% in the clear. So unless someone can show that Russia bought ads that said "Vote Trump", rather than "Vote for fair trade/build a wall/drain the swamp", there is NO problem whatsoever.
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
Hmm, this situation rings a bell. I seem to recall everybody being in harmonious concensual agreement about another point of foreign affairs not very long ago. In fact, Robert Muller was somehow involved. What could it be?
Oh, I remember: It was the claim that the Iraqi regime ("Saddam", parallel of today's "The Russians") had weapons of mass destruction. The ended up very well for everyone involved, now didn't it?
Your list of things the Russians bought is too short. Looking at your country from afar, they also appear to have bought your President.
Are you saying there is no action to be taken between two nations between 'cut it out!' and going to war?
Wow, sent an e-mail as suggested when clicking on "use classic" banner, and got a fast response that addressed my msg
You mean like financial sanctions on them by us and our allies... Check, we've done that.
Expelling diplomats.. Check, Done that too..
Discussing the Issue between heads of state... Check, Even that we've done since 2016...
Yet here we go again...
I'm saying that what can you do to stop them if they refuse to comply with your laws when you ask them to? Military force, or at least the credible threat of it is pretty much where we are at this point. How bad do you want it to stop? THAT bad?
You see, that's really the question. How far are you willing to go to make them stop. They seem willing to endure pretty much everything we've done so far and short of risking an open military conflict I'm not sure what other pressure we can bring to bear.
You have any new ideas?
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
If Trump is impeached, Mike Pence will become POTUS. The man is a crazy Christian (capital punishment for abortion, anyone?), and he might have the skills necessary to be effective. Trump's lack of political skill is the best thing about him.
"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro" -- HST
I'd like to see Congress backed sanctions, which is pretty much where we are (I think).
Wow, sent an e-mail as suggested when clicking on "use classic" banner, and got a fast response that addressed my msg
This person contacted her over a 'blog post' and posted to Twitter to find information on a CVE.
That is a script-kiddie, wannabe hacker teenager. A true spy, hell, even a halfway decent 'professional' knows where to find CVE descriptions and based on those descriptions, they can write their own exploits.
Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
Plus, Russia didn't meddle, and if they did, it wasn't to help Trump, and if it was, it didn't work, but either way there was no collusion and collusion isn't a crime anyway.
The US seems fixated with the GRU in all the stories about spying globally.
The GRU did try to spy once in the UK and totally lost a well placed spy in the 1070's.
After that it was better felt to let the real spy experts in the Soviet Union and Russia look after international spying.
Now the West is to enjoy a story about the GRU that is back doing advanced cyber spying but it cant spy and needs help. When it can spy it got deep into US networks and was never found due to skills. Then went back to needing random help again in chats again?
Stories about been able to stay deep in US networks extracting vast amounts of data with amazing skills using advanced code? Then going back to needing help in chat online?
Spying that has a person no skills in chat and then super skills all over the "internet"?
With the "a military base in the heart of Moscow" with "manicured lawns, flower beds"? And "a district outside Moscow"? "Cross-country skiing"? "emerald waters"? Left around as a story to find?
The US media then getting told of US investigative methods in real time? The US media talking US results in real time?
When did the USA ever let any of its real investigative methods and real results get talked about? 30 to 60 years later.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
The Russian "sharp force" campaign was not necessarily to get Trump the presidency. They hacked both the Democrats and the Republicans. There were attempts made towards the Bernie Sanders campaign as well. They just didn't go anywhere. The main point is to destabilize our democracy. Right now 57% of young adults do not see the Trump presidency as legitimate. They didn't need to help Trump win only to make it look like they did to have an effect. The danger is not in helping conservatives or liberals. They will help whatever side they need to to create confusion and force people to question the legitimacy of authority in the government. Take for instance the protest rally's set up by Russian operatives where they have set up rallies for violently opposing groups in order to facilitate hostility. As they work the system they will only get better, and next election it may not be the Republicans they decide needs to be in power. It may be more to their liking that an extremely liberal Democrat needs to be in office in order to foment disorder, and maybe next time they will be good enough to make a difference. Make no mistake, the Russians are not on your side.
"First, no serious person is suggesting a single vote was changed or hacked."
So why bring it up? The Russians certainly tried to hack voting systems and their manufacturers. The votes were changed before people ever got to the voting booth, by influencing them to vote for Trump.
"Second, like the parent post suggested.....the Russians are much better at spycraft and influence than the ridiculous examples we see."
How do you know?
"A 12-man team of russians peddling facebook memes and stirring the pot isn't enough to shake the foundations of the republic."
It's not only a "12-man team of russians" as you well know, they didn't include the contributors here for one thing,
"There is only one group pushing that narrative -- people who want Donald Trump out of office by any means necessary."
There are only two groups pushing your narrative -- Donald Trump's fan club and the Russian state.
You're arguing semantics. They certainly hacked to attempt to sway an election. Russian hackers with state-funded resources under direct orders from Putin, broke into the DNC server and selectively leaked information in order to sway the election towards their preferred candidate. This is the conclusion of numerous government agencies both in the US and abroad who have no obvious reason to deceive the public on this.
The only people who disagree with this assessment apart from Russia is Trump himself, presumably because it detracts from the prestige of his glorious electoral victory. The fact he has refused to challenge Putin on this, tried to delay or dismiss retaliatory sanctions against Russia or even publicly acknowledge this without walking it back soon after, suggests he is somewhat complicit or at least acquiesces to Russian interference in US democracy.
SO let me get this straight.. You are claiming that Russia did two things..
2. Trolled on Social Media - AS in engaged in a disinformation campaign to change people's minds about who they'd vote for.
The problem with your assertions is as follows:
2. This happened, but this is not new or unique with 20216's elections, it's been going on for centuries.
No. 2 is not a "problem with your assertions", it's a problem with the Russians covertly disrupting the USA.
At least you now admit that's what they did. When did the narrative change from "Russians, what Russians? Why are you admitting it now?
Even Russian spies use social media. TFA shows how to track them down:
The AP has also uncovered several social media profiles tied to another of Yermakov's indicted colleagues — Lt. Aleksey Lukashev, allegedly the man behind the successful phishing of the email account belonging to Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman, John Podesta.
Lukashev operated a Twitter account under the alias "Den Katenberg," according to an analysis of the indictment as well as data supplied by the cybersecurity firm Secureworks and Twitter's "Find My Friends" feature.
A tipster using the Russian facial recognition search engine FindFace recently pointed the AP to a VKontatke account that, while using a different name, appears active and features photos of the same young, Slavic-looking man.
Many of his posts and his friends appear to originate from a district outside Moscow known as Voskresensky. The photos show him cross-country skiing at night, wading in emerald waters somewhere warm and visiting Yaroslavl, an ancient city northwest of Moscow. One video appeared to show Russia's 2017 Spasskaya Tower Festival, a military music festival popular with officers.
The AP could not establish with certainty that the man on the VKontatke account is Lukashev. Several people listed as friends either declined to comment when approached by the AP or said Lukashev's name was unknown to them.
Shortly thereafter, the profile's owner locked down his account, making his vacation snaps invisible to outsiders.
They hacked DNC emails and bought Facebook ads.
Facebook ads?
Try Facebook. They bought a fairly large share in Facebook prior to the election, and a nice chunk of Twitter and Reddit too.
It's been known for a long time that companies rather break the law than anger their shareholders.
That is why none of the large social media sites does something about the Putinbots.
[Russia] hacked DNC emails
So we're continuously told by those with an obvious conflict of interest, against a mounting pile of evidence to the contrary.