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US Govt Data Shows Russia Used Outdated Ukrainian PHP Malware

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Re: US Govt Data Shows Russia Used Outdated Ukrainian PHP Malware

#51

Post by knz »

vectorwhat wrote: post #49
knz wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you European by chance? If so, don't worry, your country also likely has a long history of meddling on local affairs either through colonialism or parts of the cold war, especially if you are British! Yes, the US has meddled in international affairs but let's not pretend that US is unique in doing so or that Russia is some benign country that has no history of actively working against the interests of Europe/US/N…

First there are many countries in Western Europe with no significant colonial history. Greece for example. Italy's colonial history is insignificant. As to being glad that we grew up in Western Europe during the cold war, I have an Albanian friend who is now a professor of economics in the USA. He said that, although living in communism as an adult (Albania had the worst communist, btw) would have sucked, he wouldn't…

Most do have a colonial history though, a history often partly responsible for much of the strife we see today - was Italy not involved in Ethiopia/Eritrea/Somalia? And Greece certainly had political strife during the Cold war and world wars.

Re: US Govt Data Shows Russia Used Outdated Ukrainian PHP Malware

#52

Post by FLUX-YOU »

knz wrote: post #27
Gustomaximus wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To me the ongoing 'Russia rigged elections' smells like propaganda from the other side. And maybe russia did release the DNC emails, but Assange said that wasn't the case and I feel he's more likely to be telling the truth than state players. And even if they did release these emails it's hardly rigging an election. Comneys email announcement at the 11th hour about reopening email investigation was probably a decidin…

This is too sinple. Russia is actively pushing an agenda as well - the invasion of Ukraine and annexation of Crimea were not a response to US/NATO aggression. A new cold war has also been pushed domestically for the political benefit of Putin et al. If Trump had done basic things like released his tax returns (to show no massive conflict of interest with Russian loans etc) or stopped praising Putin on a regular basis…

>A new cold war has also been pushed domestically for the political benefit of Putin et al.

I don't think so, but I really lack the historical knowledge of the previous Cold War. However, Trump's remarks on starting an arms race are really troubling in light of all of this.

Currently this appears to be a tit-for-tat propaganda campaign. Maybe even some blatantly vengeful actions by a departing administration. We already know governments hack each other regularly, so what distinguishes that from some kind of Cold War mobilization of government hackers? A recruitment surge, less activity devoted to China or European nations, mysterious sudden problems in Russia cropping up?

When someone writes a story about a very good malware suite suddenly wrecking Russian infrastructure or collapsing businesses crucial to the Russian economy, then it'll obviously have started.

Re: US Govt Data Shows Russia Used Outdated Ukrainian PHP Malware

#53

Post by lngnmn »

It is ridiculous to think that the Russkies planed and executed these hacks as a deliberate operation with a clear objective to derail the election or whatever it might me.

Some guys routinely spreading primitive phishing spam got lucky and got a password or two and gained the access to emails. Just this. No super spy hacking operations. It does not even work that way - chance is the main factor.

How the emails turned up on Wikileaks is another questions, but, again, they have been published because they have been already hacked by some primitive phishing gang, not super-intelligent top-tier mega-hackers paid by the evil KGB.

The whole idea of deliberate planed KGB operation is an utter nonsense. It were kids with PHP crap. One should look for the brokers. They could have been among the 35 kicked out guys.

Re: US Govt Data Shows Russia Used Outdated Ukrainian PHP Malware

#54

Post by Natsu »

wcummings wrote: post #30
shimon_e wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know why OP is being down voted. Kim Dotcom tweeted he had early access to the leaks. It feels like a more plausible theory to me than the one the Obama administration is pushing. He announced his attention to be "an Internet Freedom fighter" and "Hillary's worse nightmare in 2016" back in 2014. Look at this tweet from 10 hours ago: "My old hacker firm Data Protect hacked 100% of its clients." https://twitter…

He's just a washed up loser looking for attention, like McAfee.

That is, indeed, quite probable. But he did predict that Wikileaks would be a problem for her. That's non-specific enough that he could've been lucky.

But as long as we're wondering who might've leaked what, you have to admit that he's at least suspicious. He has had a longstanding grudge against them and I can totally imagine him hiring some hacker group.

Re: US Govt Data Shows Russia Used Outdated Ukrainian PHP Malware

#55

Post by natch »

I don't know how much of the HN community is old enough to remember Colin Powell just prior to the first Iraq war, getting up in front of the UN and the whole world for that matter, and asserting that there was ironclad proof that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction (which we came to know as WMD). Different parts of the government had the same talking points and it was all presented as irrefutable facts. But the evidence General Powell laid out was not convincing to me at all, or to many other people. Grainy photos, reports of known arms dealers appearing in coffee shops or hotel lobbies at the same time as other key people.. it was all circumstantial and ended up being utter and complete bullshit.

This wave of claims with "incontrovertible" (but secret!) evidence that "Russia hacked the US" seems like the same kind of thing. I doubt they have proof, even if they say they do... even if their claims are made in good faith, they could be dead wrong. And more importantly I doubt the underlying premise, that Russia would even be so stupid as to try such a thing. The American people are stupid enough to vote ourselves into this situation; we didn't need any help from the outside for it to happen. There may have been hacks, but I doubt they were orchestrated by the Russian government and I REALLY doubt the credibility of the US government making claims about this kind of thing after their past record with things like the Iraq WMD.

Re: US Govt Data Shows Russia Used Outdated Ukrainian PHP Malware

#56

Post by lern_too_spel »

Gustomaximus wrote: post #5
gtirloni wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's the conclusion anyone working in the security/network area was bound to arrive at. It's really interesting FBI/DHS would make those claims publicly when the chance of having any hard evidence of that would be minimal. But they still did it. Why?

To me the ongoing 'Russia rigged elections' smells like propaganda from the other side. And maybe russia did release the DNC emails, but Assange said that wasn't the case and I feel he's more likely to be telling the truth than state players. And even if they did release these emails it's hardly rigging an election. Comneys email announcement at the 11th hour about reopening email investigation was probably a decidin…

How would Assange know who released the DNC emails? They were publicly released by Guccifer 2.0. Assange merely downloaded the public dump and indexed it on WikiLeaks.

Re: US Govt Data Shows Russia Used Outdated Ukrainian PHP Malware

#57

Post by lern_too_spel »

sverige wrote: post #28
3131s wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Nobody said Russia rigged the election. Obama and Josh Earnest have not gone as far as using the word "rigged" but they have essentially implied as much. Other large media outlets have done the same and yes, some have used the word "rigged" directly [1] (and if I dug through CNN / MSNBC / ABC reels I am positive I could find many more examples). Lesser known media outlets and internet commentators have been using t…

The most ironic part of the Clinton camp using the term "rigged" is that the original use of the term was by Bernie Sanders against Clinton during the primaries. His claims were proved by the emails that were released by Wikileaks. But somehow this has become a discussion of whether the Russians were behind it, rather than the uncontested content of the emails showing the Clinton campaign's malfeasance. It has also m…

How were Sanders's claims of Clinton rigging the elections proved by the emails released on WikiLeaks?

Re: US Govt Data Shows Russia Used Outdated Ukrainian PHP Malware

#58

Post by Natsu »

FLUX-YOU wrote: post #52
knz wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is too sinple. Russia is actively pushing an agenda as well - the invasion of Ukraine and annexation of Crimea were not a response to US/NATO aggression. A new cold war has also been pushed domestically for the political benefit of Putin et al. If Trump had done basic things like released his tax returns (to show no massive conflict of interest with Russian loans etc) or stopped praising Putin on a regular basis…

>A new cold war has also been pushed domestically for the political benefit of Putin et al. I don't think so, but I really lack the historical knowledge of the previous Cold War. However, Trump's remarks on starting an arms race are really troubling in light of all of this. Currently this appears to be a tit-for-tat propaganda campaign. Maybe even some blatantly vengeful actions by a departing administration. We alre…

There were some stories about a Russian bank being hacked and money stolen, as well as a (related?) story saying that Russia had stopped a hack. I don't know how true any of that was and they vanished off the radar soon afterwards.

Re: US Govt Data Shows Russia Used Outdated Ukrainian PHP Malware

#59

Post by b2600 »

knz wrote: post #38
ZoeZoeBee wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The invasion of Crimea was a direct response to US/NATO aggression. 1) The US helped plot to overthrow the Ukranian government in 2014. 2) Russia was not keen on NATO pushing for Ukraine to become a member, which would literally put the Russians major warm naval port under NATO hands. 3) Crimea has been a part of Russia for centuries, the only reason Crimea became a part of Ukraine after the breakup of the Soviet Uni…

Is there any credible evidence that the US/NATO was behind a coup in Ukraine? Google doesn't reveal anything substantial. Ukraine is/was a sovereign nation. Why should Russia stop them from joining NATO if that is what they want? The invasion of their country seems to suggest that a desire for NATO protection was warranted? Annexing another sovereign nation based upon historical claims and access to a military port i…

Leaving out Russian news sources of which there are numerous:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26079957

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Security-Watch/Backchannels/2...

https://www.csis.org/analysis/us-trainers-ukraine

https://www.stratfor.com/geopolitical-diary/west-hems-russia...

From the second link:

"[Nuland's] strong statement of preference for how Ukraine's government should be formed – and apparent confidence that the US has major influence over that – is a reminder of the disconnect between US government assurances that it doesn't meddle in nations' internal politics and its actual behavior (White House spokesman Jay Carney repeats this canard in his comment on the tape.) This was not a conversation analyzing unfolding events and how to respond to what comes next. This was about molding a situation according to US interests."

Re: US Govt Data Shows Russia Used Outdated Ukrainian PHP Malware

#60

Post by Natsu »

lern_too_spel wrote: post #57
sverige wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The most ironic part of the Clinton camp using the term "rigged" is that the original use of the term was by Bernie Sanders against Clinton during the primaries. His claims were proved by the emails that were released by Wikileaks. But somehow this has become a discussion of whether the Russians were behind it, rather than the uncontested content of the emails showing the Clinton campaign's malfeasance. It has also m…

How were Sanders's claims of Clinton rigging the elections proved by the emails released on WikiLeaks?

I didn't follow the Sanders campaign closely enough to be able to identify the more relevant items, but looking at the Wikileaks data gave me the impression that he was a token candidate who they controlled with various bits of leverage (e.g. when they cut him out of the DNC voter systems). There was also that time when they staged violence at the Trump rallies and blamed it on Bernie supporters. Refer to the controversy regarding Zulema Rodriguez & co.; she was also later tied to the 'Trump Ducks' thing via a photo credit, which was said to come straight from Hillary.

Here's a list of some of the findings from the leaks, though not all are relevant to this -

http://www.mostdamagingwikileaks.com/

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