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posted by martyb on Tuesday August 15 2017, @05:43PM   Printer-friendly
from the who-you-gonna-believe? dept.

We had two submissions on reports that maybe the Russians were not behind the hack of the DNC (Democratic National Committee):

Evidence that Undermines the "Election Hack" Narrative Should get More Attention

Bloomberg reports:

The Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) have been investigating the now conventional wisdom that last year's leaks of Democratic National Committee files were the result of Russian hacks. What they found instead is evidence to the contrary.

[...] The VIPS theory relies on forensic findings by independent researchers who go by the pseudonyms "Forensicator" and "Adam Carter." The former found that 1,976 MB of Guccifer's files were copied from a DNC server on July 5 in just 87 seconds, implying a transfer rate of 22.6 megabytes per second -- or, converted to a measure most people use, about 180 megabits per second, a speed not commonly available from U.S. internet providers. Downloading such files this quickly over the internet, especially over a VPN (most hackers would use one), would have been all but impossible because the network infrastructure through which the traffic would have to pass would further slow the traffic. However, as Forensicator has pointed out, the files could have been copied to a thumb drive -- something only an insider could have done -- at about that speed.

Adam Carter, the pseudonym for the other analyst, showed that the content of the Guccifer files was at some point cut and pasted into Microsoft Word templates that used the Russian language. Carter laid out all the available evidence and his answers to numerous critics in a long post earlier this month.

A New Report Raises Big Questions About Last Year's DNC Hack

The Nation reports:

Former NSA experts say it wasn't a hack at all, but a leak—an inside job by someone with access to the DNC's system.

[...] On the evening of July 5, 2016, 1,976 megabytes of data were downloaded from the DNC's server. The operation took 87 seconds. This yields a transfer rate of 22.7 megabytes per second. These statistics are matters of record and essential to disproving the hack theory. No Internet service provider, such as a hacker would have had to use in mid-2016, was capable of downloading data at this speed.

[...] "A speed of 22.7 megabytes [per second] is simply unobtainable, especially if we are talking about a transoceanic data transfer," Folden said. "Based on the data we now have, what we've been calling a hack is impossible." Last week Forensicator reported on a speed test he conducted more recently. It tightens the case considerably. "Transfer rates of 23 MB/s (Mega Bytes per second) are not just highly unlikely, but effectively impossible to accomplish when communicating over the Internet at any significant distance," he wrote. "Further, local copy speeds are measured, demonstrating that 23 MB/s is a typical transfer rate when using a USB–2 flash device (thumb drive)."

[...] "It's clear," another forensics investigator wrote, "that metadata was deliberately altered and documents were deliberately pasted into a Russianified [W]ord document with Russian language settings and style headings."

[...] By any balanced reckoning, the official case purporting to assign a systematic hacking effort to Russia, the events of mid-June and July 5 last year being the foundation of this case, is shabby to the point taxpayers should ask for their money back.

[...] Editor's note: After publication, the Democratic National Committee contacted The Nation with a response, writing, "U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded the Russian government hacked the DNC in an attempt to interfere in the election. Any suggestion otherwise is false and is just another conspiracy theory like those pushed by Trump and his administration. It's unfortunate that The Nation has decided to join the conspiracy theorists to push this narrative."


Original Submission #1 Original Submission #2

 
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  • (Score: 3, Funny) by Sulla on Tuesday August 15 2017, @07:35PM (1 child)

    by Sulla (5173) on Tuesday August 15 2017, @07:35PM (#554389) Journal

    I was wondering how long it would take before the DNC decided rather than say Seth Rich was a honorable good worker they would be unable to maintain their Russia narrative without throwing him under the bus. Looks like the time has finally come to admit that Seth Rich was secretly all along a Russian agent working for Putin and Trump to undermine the elections by leaking information showing how corrupt the DNC is. It is really unfair how the DNC is being treated just because their emails got released showing how corrupt they are, they should be allowed to hide these facts and continue doing business as normal.

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  • (Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Tuesday August 15 2017, @08:54PM

    by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Tuesday August 15 2017, @08:54PM (#554427) Homepage Journal

    Just to be clear, Seth wasn't working for me. No matter what the Dems say. He was working for my agenda of American greatness. America's agenda. He leaked those EMAILS because it was the right thing to do. Wow, Seth was a terrific leaker! Heroic. I like leakers when they help me win. 🇺🇸