Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by on Sunday January 01 2017, @05:47PM   Printer-friendly
from the more-details-as-they-occur dept.

Obama Details Actions in Response to Russian Malicious Cyber Activity

U.S. President Obama writes:

I have issued an executive order that provides additional authority for responding to certain cyber activity that seeks to interfere with or undermine our election processes and institutions, or those of our allies or partners. Using this new authority, I have sanctioned nine entities and individuals: the GRU and the FSB, two Russian intelligence services; four individual officers of the GRU; and three companies that provided material support to the GRU's cyber operations. In addition, the Secretary of the Treasury is designating two Russian individuals for using cyber-enabled means to cause misappropriation of funds and personal identifying information. The State Department is also shutting down two Russian compounds, in Maryland and New York, used by Russian personnel for intelligence-related purposes, and is declaring "persona non grata" 35 Russian intelligence operatives. Finally, the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are releasing declassified technical information on Russian civilian and military intelligence service cyber activity, to help network defenders in the United States and abroad identify, detect, and disrupt Russia's global campaign of malicious cyber activities. [...] [The Obama] Administration will be providing a report to Congress in the coming days about Russia's efforts to interfere in our election, as well as malicious cyber activity related to our election cycle in previous elections.

Press release. Text of Executive Order. Annex to Executive Order.

Russia Calls for Expulsion of U.S. Diplomats

Although Russia's foreign minister has asked President Vladimir Putin to expel 35 U.S. diplomats from the country in response to President Obama's actions, President Putin has so far declined to do so.

Dispute on Russia's Involvement with DNC Hacking

A WikiLeaks associate has disputed the Russian hacking narrative, saying that he was handed the documents in Washington, D.C.:

On 15 December 2016, the British tabloid Daily Mail quoted Craig Murray, a former U.K. ambassador to Uzbekistan and "close associate" of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, as saying that the Democratic National Committee's e-mails were not obtained by WikiLeaks due to the efforts of Russian hackers but were instead leaked by a disgruntled DNC operative who had legal access to them [...]

Murray said he retrieved the package from a source during a clandestine meeting in a wooded area near American University, in northwest D.C. He said the individual he met with was not the original person who obtained the information, but an intermediary.

Of course, it could be completely untrue. At the moment we have only his account to work with.


Original Submission #1Original Submission #2Original Submission #3Original Submission #4

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 01 2017, @06:31PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 01 2017, @06:31PM (#448200)

    > Furthermore, postmortem analysis on Hillary's insane basement private email server indicated it was 0wned by multiple parties; at least five foreign actors had access to it.

    That's a new one. Where did you hear that?
    'Cause its sounds like echoes from your butt.

    > Thanks to VPNs, I personally put no credibility whatsoever in claims these actions could possibly be traced to any particular actor.

    Well, the fact that they used the same encryption keys [vice.com] for their command-and-control system that had been used in attacks that were previously connected back to russia kinda makes the actual IP addresses irrelevant.

    Starting Score:    0  points
    Moderation   +3  
       Troll=1, Insightful=1, Informative=2, Touché=1, Total=5
    Extra 'Informative' Modifier   0  

    Total Score:   3  
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 01 2017, @06:48PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 01 2017, @06:48PM (#448205)

    That's a new one. Where did you hear that?

    I read that one somewhere too.

    command-and-control system

    Podesta fell victim to a phishing email -- the @ssh0les gmail password was p@ssw0rd. No C&C required.

    • (Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 01 2017, @10:48PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 01 2017, @10:48PM (#448271)

      That's a new one. Where did you hear that?

      I read that one somewhere too.

      I think I heard somewhere that someone had read that somewhere, too.

  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 01 2017, @07:07PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 01 2017, @07:07PM (#448211)

    There was no sophisticated malware or anything of the sort necessary. In at least one of the emails that are now public we know Podesta got sent an email "Your email has been hacked. Click on this link shortener address to a dodgy looking URL and enter your old username and password." which he proceeded to do. Given that sort of complete technical illiteracy I don't doubt the entirety of the DNC was probably loaded with malware from just about every interested party in the world. One email also showed them using username/password combinations including p@ssword. Wikileaks took the unprecedented step of even stating that they received the leaks from a party insider and there's really 0 reason to doubt that. The Project Veritas videos [youtube.com] (hyperbolic titles, but those are genuine videos which have cost numerous DNC insiders their jobs) show various DNC insiders happily discussing unethical if not illegal acts, on hidden camera, with one such leaker. Mostly, it just looks like the DNC was full of technically illiterate dolts and has minimal or incompetent vetting for people they give access to. This whole "Russian is the cause of everything" is just fake news.

    • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 01 2017, @09:51PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 01 2017, @09:51PM (#448249)

      Citing project veritas is an immediate disqualifier.

      They were the guys who edited those planned parenthood videos to be outright lies.
      Their lies were so bad that when Texas launched an investigation into planned parenthood they not only cleared PP (as did the other 11 state AGs and 4 congressional committees that investigated them) but ended up bringing felony charges against the people behind project veritas. [cjr.org]

      Everything you've ever heard on AM radio or infowars about despicable, lying liberals - that's the blueprint for the way project veritas operates.

      Basically if Project Veritas says the sky is blue, that's only because something has happened to turn it red.

      • (Score: 1, Troll) by jmorris on Monday January 02 2017, @01:45AM

        by jmorris (4844) on Monday January 02 2017, @01:45AM (#448336)

        You guys maintain that Narrative in the hope of making it truthy in the minds of low info voters but it ain't so. And you are such an expert you can't even hate on the right guy for the right thing. Okeefe and his Project Veritas didn't do the Planned Parenthood spare baby parts videos, that was Center for Medical Progress and David Daleiden. And there were no "deceptive" edits, you can in fact confirm this assertion by viewing the entire unedited source material if you have the cast iron stomach to watch hours of Evil.

        And it isn't exactly a surprise that Democrats would attempt to file charges against someone who called into question one of the cornerstones of their religion.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 02 2017, @03:27AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 02 2017, @03:27AM (#448370)

          The gay vegan mooooooooooooooslims are gonna getcha, and they'll make you wear assless chaps!

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 02 2017, @03:42AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 02 2017, @03:42AM (#448377)

          > Okeefe and his Project Veritas didn't do the Planned Parenthood spare baby parts videos, that was Center for Medical Progress and David Daleiden.

          Half true. O'keefe and Daleiden are best buds that have worked together on similar lies. As fellow reactionary loony toon, Chuck Johnson, documented in 2009. [claremontconservative.com]

          > And it isn't exactly a surprise that Democrats would attempt to file charges against someone who called into question one of the cornerstones of their religion.

          Because Texas is run by democrats. What were you saying about low-info voters? Or do you not vote?

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 02 2017, @02:13AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 02 2017, @02:13AM (#448345)

        Being a motherfucking dipshit SHOULD be an immediately disqualifier, yet for some reason you're still allowed on the internet.

  • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 01 2017, @07:31PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 01 2017, @07:31PM (#448215)

    That's my take as well.

    As much as I hate Hillary's abuse of transparency-in-gov't laws, her illegal personal server remained secure while the State Dept's systems were breeched.

    Now, her -correspondents- and their lame security practices are another matter entirely.

    -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

    • (Score: 2) by nethead on Sunday January 01 2017, @10:42PM

      by nethead (4970) <joe@nethead.com> on Sunday January 01 2017, @10:42PM (#448268) Homepage

      Hey! I have a private email server in my basement!

      --
      How did my SN UID end up over 3 times my /. UID?
    • (Score: 2) by jmorris on Monday January 02 2017, @02:05AM

      by jmorris (4844) on Monday January 02 2017, @02:05AM (#448342)

      Ya, you go on believing that. A Microsoft Exchange Server with no professional administration, no professional hardening, and apparently no secure firewall isolating it from the Internet. Spam and malware filtering was outsourced to the Cloud, at a service provider with no clearance. Zero breaches! Yea, sure. Whatever get you through the night pal, don't stop believing, you are With Her to the bitter dead end.

  • (Score: 2) by Nerdfest on Sunday January 01 2017, @07:36PM

    by Nerdfest (80) on Sunday January 01 2017, @07:36PM (#448218)

    The fact that Russian or other agencies has access to servers does not mean they were ones who released the information. It just means they had access to it as well. personally, I trust Wikileaks representatives far more than any US government agencies.

    • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 01 2017, @07:54PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 01 2017, @07:54PM (#448226)

      Wikileaks lost a lot of credibility when they pulled that stunt of offering a reward for information on the death of Seth Rich [washingtonpost.com] as a way to co-opt his death to fuel conspiracy theories against Clinton. They wanted people to think Mr Rich was the "insider" but they wouldn't actually name him as their source. That's so much bullshit on so many levels.

      (1) The DNC email leaks weren't worth killing over. They were really banal. The only reason they are a big deal is because they were trumped up.
      (2) If he was the actual source then name him, he's dead, you can't hurt him any more.
      (3) If wikileaks is concerned about protecting friends of Mr Rich then this wink-wink nod-nod way of not-naming him puts them in as much as danger as actually naming him.
      (4) If he's not the source, then wikileaks is smearing him, making it sound like he didn't believe in the work he was doing. Who the fuck are they to do that? His parents are not happy with wikileaks either.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 01 2017, @08:31PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 01 2017, @08:31PM (#448233)

        (1) The DNC email leaks weren't worth killing over.

        A psychopath would disagree... and then make exactly that argument in their defence.

      • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday January 01 2017, @09:07PM

        by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Sunday January 01 2017, @09:07PM (#448240) Journal

        (1) The DNC email leaks weren't worth killing over.

        Obviously, you presume that people in Washington share your values. You are incapable of understanding people who have no values. People in the DNC were embarrased and lost their jobs over these leaks. People who don't value life would be happy to snuff any number of lives for less reason than that.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 01 2017, @09:35PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 01 2017, @09:35PM (#448247)

          Yeah, yeah, yeah. IIRC you also believe in the spirit cooking fantasy and pizzagate.
          Anyone you disagree with isn't just wrong, they are the devil.
          You are quite lame.

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 01 2017, @10:55PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 01 2017, @10:55PM (#448273)

            Haha, didn't know about spirit cooking [snopes.com].

            omg satanic ritual! omg omg omg! It gets so fucking old. It's depressing that people are unable to separate fantasy from reality.

          • (Score: 3, Funny) by Runaway1956 on Monday January 02 2017, @12:39AM

            by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Monday January 02 2017, @12:39AM (#448308) Journal

            " IIRC you also believe in the spirit cooking fantasy and pizzagate."

            You don't recall correctly. Spirit cooking? WTF? The bitch published a cook book which uses bodily fluids in the recipes? That's gross, disgusting, and could be occult too. A lot of occult shit attributes special powers to bodily fluids, especially blood and semen.

            Spirit cooking. Some sick shit, no matter how you look at it. Just how far is this from cannabalism?

            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 02 2017, @12:44AM

              by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 02 2017, @12:44AM (#448311)

              Looks like I recalled just fine.

              • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday January 02 2017, @02:26AM

                by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Monday January 02 2017, @02:26AM (#448349) Journal

                Obviously, you'll overlook and forgive the most perverse acts, if they are performed by left/progressive/democrats, but condemn anyone who even questions those acts? Got it.

                • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 02 2017, @03:45AM

                  by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 02 2017, @03:45AM (#448379)

                  If you play Beyonce backwards its says "Hillary is the devil! Hillary is the devil!"

                  • (Score: 4, Funny) by aristarchus on Monday January 02 2017, @06:45AM

                    by aristarchus (2645) on Monday January 02 2017, @06:45AM (#448420) Journal

                    If you play Beyonce backwards its says "Hillary is the devil! Hillary is the devil!"

                    Wow! That's amazing, 'cuz if you play Runaway forwards, it says the exact same thing!

            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 02 2017, @07:09AM

              by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 02 2017, @07:09AM (#448422)

              Runaway, Runaway! Did you watch "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" again? You know it always scares you, what with all the Muslins taking your heart out and shit. So just calm down. Here, have some Ladyfingers and ******toes.