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Russian Hackers Posed as ISIS to Threaten U.S. Military Wives

posted by martyb on Friday May 11 2018, @09:22AM   
from the False-Black-Flag dept.

An Anonymous Coward writes:

The Associated Press has found evidence that five military wives who received death threats from the self-styled CyberCaliphate were targeted not by jihadists but by the same Russian hacking group, APT28 aka FancyBear, that intervened in the American election and exposed the emails of Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign chairman, John Podesta.

The false flag is a case study in the difficulty of assigning blame in a world where hackers routinely borrow one another's identities to throw investigators off track. The operation also parallels the online disinformation campaign by Russian trolls in the months leading up to the U.S. election in 2016.

Links between CyberCaliphate and the Russian hackers — typically nicknamed Fancy Bear or APT28 — have been documented previously. On both sides of the Atlantic, the consensus is that the two groups are closely related.

But that consensus never filtered through to the women involved, many of whom were convinced they had been targeted by Islamic State sympathizers right up until the AP contacted them.

"Never in a million years did I think that it was the Russians," said Ricketts, an author and advocate for veterans and military families. She called the revelation "mind blowing."

"It feels so hilarious and insidious at the same time."

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Original Submission

• 80 years 80 years (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 11 2018, @10:45AM (4 children)

  by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 11 2018, @10:45AM (#678304)

  Russia has been intervening in US elections since before 2916. And the US in Russian elections.

  Starting Score:	0		points
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• Re:80 years Re:80 years (Score: 3, Interesting) by jdavidb on Friday May 11 2018, @02:48PM (1 child)

  by jdavidb (5690) on Friday May 11 2018, @02:48PM (#678399) Homepage Journal

  The U.S. literally invaded Siberia at one point.

  --
  ⓋⒶ☮✝🕊 Secession is the right of all sentient beings

  Parent

  • Re:80 years (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 12 2018, @06:13AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 12 2018, @06:13AM (#678726)

    The U.S. literally invaded Siberia at one point.

    And nobody noticed. Nobody there.

    Parent

• Re:80 years Re:80 years (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 11 2018, @05:02PM (1 child)

  by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 11 2018, @05:02PM (#678481)

  Russia has been intervening in US elections since before 2916.

  Not to put too fine a point on it, but Russia has done everything it has done since before 2916.

  Parent

  • Re:80 years (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 12 2018, @06:16AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 12 2018, @06:16AM (#678727)

    Russia has done everything it has done since before 2916.

    They hacked my flying car in 2340, hacked my robo-maid in 2610, hacked my virtual brain-body in 2760, hacked my Titan ski cabin in 2805, and kicked my dog in 2870.

    Parent