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posted by chromas on Tuesday August 21 2018, @04:57PM   Printer-friendly
from the phishers-of-men dept.

Microsoft claims win over 'Russian political hackers'

Russian attempts to launch cyber-attacks against US conservative groups have been thwarted, Microsoft says. The software company said Russian hackers had tried to steal data from political organisations, including the International Republican Institute and the Hudson Institute think tanks. But they had been thwarted when its security staff had won control of six net domains mimicking their websites.

Microsoft said the Fancy Bear hacking group had been behind the attacks. "We're concerned that these and other attempts pose security threats to a broadening array of groups connected with both American political parties in the run-up to the 2018 elections," Microsoft said in its blog detailing its work.

The thwarted attack was likely the start of a "spear phishing" campaign, said Microsoft. This would involve tricking people into visiting the mimicked domains allowing the Fancy Bear group to see and steal login information that people use. As well as the two think-tanks, the domains seized were associated with several Senate offices and services. One domain sought to mimic Microsoft's Office 365 online service.

Russia has denied Microsoft's allegations that it targeted the right-wing think-tanks.

Also at NYT, Reuters, and The Hill.


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 21 2018, @10:00PM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 21 2018, @10:00PM (#724401)

    No, I'm perfectly capable of understanding She Lost, that she was indeed the worst thing the DNC could have done, and that all organizations have their own intentions.

    And that Russia works very hard to influence American politics.

    Then again, I didn't vote for either Clinton or Trump.

  • (Score: 1, Troll) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday August 22 2018, @02:44AM (2 children)

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday August 22 2018, @02:44AM (#724518) Journal

    Russia works very hard to influence American politics.

    Drop that "very hard" bit, and the sentence actually makes sense. Compare the total cost of the 2016 election, to the resources that Russia dedicated to the campaign. Russia's "contribution" to the election was negligible. Individual persons on each side of our partisan politics spent more than Russia.

    Step back in history a few decades, to see how much effort the Soviet spent to get the US stuck in the quagmires of Korea and Vietnam. Compared to that, the money that the Russians spent on the 2016 presidential election is less than a pittance. In effect, they whipped out a bit of pocket change, and tossed it at Facefook to see what might happen.

    What would be more surprising, would be if NO ONE attempted to influence our elections.

    • (Score: 2) by janrinok on Wednesday August 22 2018, @02:23PM (1 child)

      by janrinok (52) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday August 22 2018, @02:23PM (#724659) Journal

      We have no idea how much it cost the Russians to mount any campaign. I'm not arguing whether they did or did not - but you cannot claim:

      Russia's "contribution" to the election was negligible.

      unless you have the hard evidence to back up your statement. We don't even know the extent of any Russian interference and, if they have done it properly, we never will.

      • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday August 22 2018, @02:33PM

        by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday August 22 2018, @02:33PM (#724661) Journal

        Yeah, you're right. I DON'T know how much or how little the Russians invested. I do know, however, that Facebook and others have "exposed" piddling amounts of money investment.

        Had Russia spent billions, we might expect that we would have found a lot more than we have found. Unless we are just that damned incompetent!! If that last be true, then we deserve to have the Russians, the Afghans, and every tribe in the world meddling in our affairs!!