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US Cyber Command Operation Disrupted Internet Access of Russian Troll Factory on Day of 2018 Midterms: Report (washingtonpost.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report: The U.S. military blocked Internet access to an infamous Russian entity seeking to sow discord among Americans during the 2018 midterms, several U.S. officials said, a warning that the group's operations against the United States are not cost-free. The strike on the Internet Research Agency in St. Petersburg, a company underwritten by an oligarch close to President VladiÂmir Putin, was part of the first offensive cyber campaign against Russia designed to thwart attempts to interfere with a U.S. election, the officials said. "They basically took the IRA offline," according to one individual familiar with the matter who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss classified information. "They shut 'em down." The operation marked the first muscle-flexing by U.S. Cyber Command, with intelligence from the National Security Agency, under new authorities it was granted by President Trump and Congress last year to bolster offensive capabilities.
is in no part a "national security" or otherwise strategic resource.
A single place full of people's likes and dislikes, vacation schedules, who's in their circles of friends and famlies, what car they own, where they live.. pictures and vids of all of the above and more.... none of this is strategic?
It's very strategic, just not to the normal, well-adjusted human. But for thieves, conmen, and anyone interested in gathering intel on a target? Pricelessly strategic.
The "Civilized World" jumped the shark ca. 1973.
Republicans don't seem to care at all about this, since the russians helped their team win.
I thought they were the "our guns protect your freedom" patriots who love 'murica so much?
Small minded Republicans, ask yourselves, why would Putin want Trump to win? Is it because he loves you and loves 'Murica?
Maybe, just maybe there is a different reason. Maybe he knows something you don't.
Of course, should the democrats win in the next election, I am pretty sure the world will hear you screaming your disingenuous little hearts out about how the Russians hacked the elections and how the results are not valid and blah blah blah. Why? Because you are pieces of shit who don't care about the US, or the world at large. You only care that your teams wins, regardless of what it costs every other person on the planet.
...but most of the damage is done in the weeks leading up to the election. Shutting them down on election day is too late.
One of our competitors trademarked the term "hypothesis". From now on, we will call them "boneheaded ideas".
I don't know why I bother, since you're clearly determined. Stop pushing political narratives. Hell, this would even be worth discussing if it weren't the thousandth article pushing "Russia hacked the elections". The ironic thing is your side has so thoroughly discredited itself that when you have real news that supports your cause it is going to be ignored. I don't even like Trump!
If video games influenced behavior the Pac Man generation would be eating pills and running away from their problems.
You do realize that the vast majority of Facebook is fake-as-hell information
This is an example of Sturgeon's Law: 90% of everything is crap.
But that doesn't much diminish the value of the remaining 10%. Knowing everyone's friend graph is valuable information. Knowing everyone's interests is also valuable. Knowing who is easily influenced by the false information is very valuable.