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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.
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(Score: 5, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Sunday January 01 2017, @07:32PM
The lame duck is saber rattling - WHY? What is happening that he doesn't want us to see?
All through this election cycle, it's been "The Russians are coming, the Russians are coming!"
Hillary's server? RUSSIANS!
Hillary's money? RUSSIA HACKING!
Hillary's Benghazi? RUSSIA HACKED US!
Bernie shut down by DNC? RUSSIA DID IT!
Violent protestors at Trump rally? RUSSIA CAUSED IT WITH THEIR HACKING!
Why is is so important to the Democrats that we fear Russia? What are they distracting us from?
I read an article - can't find it now. One of those hacks blamed on the Russians? The server's owners openly states, yes, the hack came through his servers. But, the hack didn't originate within Russia. The server was used as a proxy, with attacks coming in from several different countries. I really want to find that article . . .
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/28/world/europe/russia-hacker-vladimir-fomenko-king-servers.html?_r=0 [nytimes.com]
https://www.rt.com/news/361382-russia-servers-dnc-hack/ [rt.com]
Still not the article I was looking for, but basically the story is there.
Except, we don't know what the story really is. Did Russia do some hacking, but other people were hacking away as well? Is Russia innocent, this time around? Was it the US and/or actors within the US doing the hacking? Or, was there just a series of leaks from within the DNC?
There's a lot more bullshit than facts out there, that much is certain.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Sunday January 01 2017, @07:44PM
This popped up at the bottom of my page when I submitted:
According to all the latest reports, there was no truth in any of the earlier reports.
There seems to be no attribution - maybe it's a Hillary quote?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 02 2017, @03:51AM
After all, it is only the mediocre who are always at their best. -- Jean Giraudoux
Are we seeing what we want to see, or slash & rehash have some kind of rules about quote selection?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 02 2017, @05:04PM
I think you are missing the point.
Russia is to be punished for their behavior. Any other entity found doing the same against the interests of the USA are likely to be treated the same way.
The republican party is mostly not worried about this because they benefitted from it. You can ask the same questions of the republicans -- what do they have to fear so much about the russians that they wish to not upset them, and obstruct the research into the issue and try to dissuade everyone that this isn't a problem?
THIS is a problem -- Hillary's email server wasn't the problem, the problem is that her server was not secured well against things like this! It doesn't matter who -- it's the fear of what. Don't even consider why -- it is clear that russia would prefer the republicans to be in charge of the USA. I won't get into why. Previous policy and future policy likely have something to do with it, more so than the charisma of either political party.
The republicans have far more to lose than the democrats stand to win, should substanstial hacking proof come about or new revelations that demonstrate this to be a serious issue.
What I hear coming from the republican party now is "dont' worry about hacking or security, it doesnt matter! why bother!" what? this is national security! They should be giving a shit about securing their country -- even if they benefitted from the news that resulted, and the election results, that may or may not have influenced everything the voting public thought this election cycle.
Secure our god damn country, and not with a wall to keep out mexicans.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday January 02 2017, @08:37PM
"this is national security!"
It's the DNC which was supposedly hacked. Not government offices. Just one of the several political parties in the US, not the US itself.
Or, are you telling me that the DNC steals government secrets and sequesters those secrets on their publicly facing servers? Just like Hillary, huh?