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.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Tuesday August 21 2018, @05:10PM (5 children)
We know they penetrated republican infrastructure during the election, too. They only leak the Dem stuff, though.
FBI's Comey: Republicans also hacked by Russia (Jan 2017) [cnn.com]
Washington (CNN)Top intelligence officials indicated on Tuesday that the GOP was also a Russian hacking target but that none of the information obtained was leaked.
(Score: 5, Funny) by ikanreed on Tuesday August 21 2018, @06:42PM
Maybe the republicans were just clean that there was noth-- bwahahahahahahah.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 21 2018, @06:43PM
No, it only depends on whatever causes the most pain.
(Score: 0, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 21 2018, @09:30PM (2 children)
Hillary's troubles are that she pissed off DNC staff members who were devoted to Bernie. These people had the means and the motive to leak. It was trivial, no hacking required: put it on a USB stick and walk out the door.
Julian Assange even hinted at who the leaker was, clearly struggling with his promise to keep sources secret. Just recently, Julian Assange's mother slipped up:
https://yournewswire.com/julian-assange-mother-seth-rich-dnc-leaker/ [yournewswire.com]
http://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/internet-buzzing-after-julian-assanges-mother-implicates-seth-rich-in-dnc-leak_08212018 [shtfplan.com]
https://www.theburningplatform.com/2018/08/20/julian-assanges-mother-seth-rich-was-dnc-leaker/ [theburningplatform.com]
https://straightlinelogic.com/2018/08/20/julian-assanges-mother-seth-rich-was-dnc-leaker-by-sean-adl-tabatabai/ [straightlinelogic.com]
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 21 2018, @09:54PM
all those domains sound like faaaaaake news
(Score: 4, Funny) by TheReaperD on Tuesday August 21 2018, @11:59PM
Turns out that's just a conspiracy theory hopefully about ready to run out of steam. Russian intelligence officer, not a member of the DNC staff was responsible for the Wikileaks info on Hillary Clinton. [vox.com] It was all just a conspiricy theory against a member of the Bernie Sandars loyalists by the right wing media in their fear that Trump will have to face Sanders in 2020.
Ad eundum quo nemo ante iit
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 21 2018, @05:13PM (19 children)
Another day, another piece of evidence that Russia is still hard at work trying to interfere in our elections. Targeting groups that are vocally anti-Russia or anti-Russian interference can't be a surprise to anyone (except maybe the occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue).
Require 2-factor authentication for all campaign networks, VPNs and email systems (not fool proof, but much better than not using it), switch to paper ballots, and accept the fact that the election results won't be known five minutes after the polls close.
Accept that Russia is trying hard to capsize the boat of democracy or accept that they will own you.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by c0lo on Tuesday August 21 2018, @06:07PM (8 children)
Capsize... what? You call democracy the circus that you have?
With billions of dollars required for the "electoral process" to function, so that there's the chance of a snowflake in hell any candidate not bending forward to rich donors will ever be elected?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 5, Informative) by DeathMonkey on Tuesday August 21 2018, @07:09PM (6 children)
The rise of the anti-PAC Democrat [pbs.org]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by PartTimeZombie on Tuesday August 21 2018, @08:38PM
I modded your comment +1 Informative, because it is, but I can't see the people and organisations who run the US letting these anti-PAC Democrats have their way if the Justice Democrats are even being honest about their intentions.
I suppose we will find out in due course.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 21 2018, @08:52PM (3 children)
Is it anti-pac and former spy or anti-pac vs former spy?
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2018/03/07/dems-m07.html [wsws.org]
(Score: 0, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 21 2018, @09:13PM (2 children)
Is this a list of the candidates? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justice_Democrats [wikipedia.org]
The original article said 51 people were running under the anti-PAC label but I count 0/4 for senate and 42/71 eliminated from house races with 8 TBA and 21 wins/advances. I spot checked a few of the winners and they didnt seem particularly "deep state" heavy.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 22 2018, @01:10PM (1 child)
How in the world is this a troll?
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Wednesday August 22 2018, @02:18PM
I agree with you - I've redressed that mod by adding my own.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Tuesday August 21 2018, @11:20PM
Nice! Looks like Bernie was a GOOD influence on them.
Too bad they didn't see that earlier: HE might be president.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday August 22 2018, @12:13AM
I'll be trully happy to be proven wrong, even if it will take years.
Having all the politicians listening to the voters first will not only restore the proper democracy, but you may have the pleasant surprise to make it impervious to meddling from outside - the voted/voter relationship becomes too strong to be toppled by trolling.
of course, under the reserve the politicians keep their word once elected. This should come as a consequence, but many things can happen on the way
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 21 2018, @06:35PM (5 children)
Cool story bro.
You'll need to give me evidence that's more convincing than an embarrassing leak from the DNC and a few hundred thousand dollars of Failbook ads.
It's amazing how you people still cannot accept that She Lost. You'll blame anyone and everyone except yourselves. Accept that Hillary Clinton was possibly the most awful candidate you could have put forward and that the DNC and intelligence services (viz. the CIA) are trying hard to capsize the boat of democracy, or accept that they will own you.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 21 2018, @10:00PM (3 children)
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)
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)
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:
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
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!!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 22 2018, @10:52AM
How about this lady? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Butina [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 21 2018, @06:41PM (3 children)
Common knowledge back in the cold war days. I worked in a plant producing civilian avionics parts with armed guards at all exits. Possession of a wire longer than 6" was grounds for immediate termination as it could be used in some sort of transmission device.
People were a lot more paranoid back then.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 21 2018, @09:17PM (2 children)
Trump is colluding with the avians.
https://images.tenplay.com.au/~/media/News/National%20News/extra%20jpegs%20for%20outage/2016/November%202016/18/trumpbird.jpg [tenplay.com.au]
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 21 2018, @10:42PM (1 child)
Trump deports avian's [deviantart.net]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 21 2018, @11:44PM
http://specialarad.ro/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/TrumpBird.jpg [specialarad.ro]
(Score: 2, Insightful) by jelizondo on Tuesday August 21 2018, @05:31PM (3 children)
I guess the Court saw evidence but I wish they would publish evidence that proves indeed it is the Russian government behind the attack. Could it be China or Israel maskerading as Russia? Both are also known for spying on the US, both for government and corporate information.
So it's free so long as you pay for it. Typical M$ craft.
(Score: 2, Troll) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday August 21 2018, @05:51PM
Actually - isn't Microsoft attempting to interfere in our elections with this? They are going to offer "protection" to people who play ball, but that "protection" involves stashing all of your sekrits on MS servers. I mean, it's not like MS owns bunches of 'puters or anything. It might even be worse if they had AI and deep learning, and other buzzwords. Just think - they are the keepers of all campaign sekrits - what might an AI come up with to sway an election?
That just about does it. We should declare war on Microsoft before they assassinate - uhhhhh - Neo? Isn't Agent Smith a Microsoft representative?
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 21 2018, @06:00PM (1 child)
Simply observing the behavior of Trump with regards to Russia and Putin really clarifies everything. No doubt other countries are doing similar things, but the ties between Trump and Russia are just so blatantly obvious that I think it has hoodwinked a few people. Like Trump's strategy of just "declaring" things to be OK and lies are truth, it is so blatant people fall for it.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Thexalon on Wednesday August 22 2018, @12:16AM
Don Trump's behavior towards Putin (and Kim Jong Un, for that matter) is certainly suspicious as all get-out, but it isn't proof. For instance, he could just have a bit of a hard-on for authoritarian leaders because he by all appearances would like to be one.
By contrast, what the DoJ has been focusing on with a lot of success is following the money: They just proved in a court of law is that his campaign manager engaged in all kinds of fraud, mostly related to a Russian-backed Ukrainian politician, to help in financing Don Trump's campaign, which is way more fact-based than inference-based and a lot more suspicious and damning. It's one thing to have some emails hacked to embarrass somebody with an attack so simple a substantial number of Soylentils could have pulled it off, or to get other dirt on your opponent in an election, which really nobody who's not a die-hard Democrat cares about one bit. It's another thing entirely to have your campaign be financed by a foreign government (and yes, it's entirely possible that other American politicians are guilty of this).
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by RS3 on Tuesday August 21 2018, @06:31PM (6 children)
Hey Microsoft, please own up to the fact that you largely made the attacks possible, and that your feature-driven, rather than security-driven business model has largely steered the computing market and world.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 21 2018, @07:43PM (3 children)
Actually, these are phishing attempts that try to trick someone into clicking a link and entering their username & password in a fake version of <insert name of service here>. As much as I loath Microsoft, they are not to blame for people's irresponsible email practices.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 21 2018, @10:03PM
Perhaps. But Microsoft is to blame for most people's irresponsible e-mail clients and browsers, that made such attacks viable in the first place.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 21 2018, @11:42PM (1 child)
I had to stop using outlook because they were obscuring the origin of every link by redirecting it through some microsoft server. I really doubt microsoft is on the anti-phishing side.
(Score: 3, Informative) by ElizabethGreene on Wednesday August 22 2018, @03:48AM
There is a uservoice item to make human-readable safelinks:
https://office365.uservoice.com/forums/289138-office-365-security-compliance/suggestions/15092445-pretty-links-for-atp-safe-links [uservoice.com]
It's a good idea, and worth an upvote.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Gaaark on Tuesday August 21 2018, @11:31PM (1 child)
Yes, I think it's ridiculous that office365 will accept a password such as, say, Welcome4.
GOOD security there, MS....good security.
Can't wait to hear the 365 servers were hacked: I'll laugh and laugh!
(but MS won't probably ever tell if THAT happens.)
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday August 22 2018, @02:51AM
My company isn't the same one to use Welcome16 as a password?
Seriously - every x number of days, the password must be changed. It increments by 1 each time. FFS, how long does it take to "brute force" a password when you know exactly what form that password takes? You don't even need software to do it.