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Ask HN: Do you believe the Russia hacking story?

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Re: Ask HN: Do you believe the Russia hacking story?

#31

Post by avenoir »

bjourne wrote: post #14

Read FireEye's reports about APT28 and APT29: http://www2.fireeye.com/rs/fireye/images/rpt-apt28.pdf https://www2.fireeye.com/rs/848-DID-242/images/rpt-apt29-hammertoss.pdf They are finding various correlations, such as Russian language settings, compile timestamps matching Russian work days, malware activity ceasing on Russian holidays... As a software developer, I can say that this "feels" par for the course for so…

> APT28 had consistently compiled Russian language settings into their malware. The second was that malware compile times from 2007 to 2014 corresponded to normal business hours in the UTC + 4 time zone, which includes major Russian cities such as Moscow and St. Petersburg.

You'd think that a state-sponsored attack would be a little less careless. This seems like a rookie give-away and makes me wonder if this is made to look like Russia instead of being Russia. When I think of a state-sponsored attack, I automatically envision something in the realm of Stuxnet in terms of quality and the level of sophistication.

Re: Ask HN: Do you believe the Russia hacking story?

#33

Post by mcphage »

[deleted] wrote: post #11

[deleted]

You should read up on the history of political primaries. The majority of our history, the parties chose the candidate outright. Now we have a mixed system, with some electors chosen by open voting and some by party leadership. The idea that the party having an opinion and influence on the candidate selection undermining democracy is deeply ignorant of our history.

Re: Ask HN: Do you believe the Russia hacking story?

#34

Post by mcphage »

avenoir wrote: post #31
bjourne wrote: post #14

Read FireEye's reports about APT28 and APT29: http://www2.fireeye.com/rs/fireye/images/rpt-apt28.pdf https://www2.fireeye.com/rs/848-DID-242/images/rpt-apt29-hammertoss.pdf They are finding various correlations, such as Russian language settings, compile timestamps matching Russian work days, malware activity ceasing on Russian holidays... As a software developer, I can say that this "feels" par for the course for so…

> APT28 had consistently compiled Russian language settings into their malware. The second was that malware compile times from 2007 to 2014 corresponded to normal business hours in the UTC + 4 time zone, which includes major Russian cities such as Moscow and St. Petersburg. You'd think that a state-sponsored attack would be a little less careless. This seems like a rookie give-away and makes me wonder if this is made…

What you're saying is, it looks like Russia, so it wasn't Russia. But if it didn't look like Russia, then maybe it would have been Russia.

Re: Ask HN: Do you believe the Russia hacking story?

#35

Post by bjourne »

avenoir wrote: post #31
bjourne wrote: post #14

Read FireEye's reports about APT28 and APT29: http://www2.fireeye.com/rs/fireye/images/rpt-apt28.pdf https://www2.fireeye.com/rs/848-DID-242/images/rpt-apt29-hammertoss.pdf They are finding various correlations, such as Russian language settings, compile timestamps matching Russian work days, malware activity ceasing on Russian holidays... As a software developer, I can say that this "feels" par for the course for so…

> APT28 had consistently compiled Russian language settings into their malware. The second was that malware compile times from 2007 to 2014 corresponded to normal business hours in the UTC + 4 time zone, which includes major Russian cities such as Moscow and St. Petersburg. You'd think that a state-sponsored attack would be a little less careless. This seems like a rookie give-away and makes me wonder if this is made…

So we have:

   a) Not enough evidence that it was Russia!
   b) To much evidence, it can't have been Russia!
:)

Remember how Edward Snowden, a low-level contractor, was able to run away with all the NSA:s big secrets? Government enterprises are characterized by cluelessness, political in-fighting and not sophistication.

Re: Ask HN: Do you believe the Russia hacking story?

#36

Post by _a_ »

avenoir wrote: post #31
bjourne wrote: post #14

Read FireEye's reports about APT28 and APT29: http://www2.fireeye.com/rs/fireye/images/rpt-apt28.pdf https://www2.fireeye.com/rs/848-DID-242/images/rpt-apt29-hammertoss.pdf They are finding various correlations, such as Russian language settings, compile timestamps matching Russian work days, malware activity ceasing on Russian holidays... As a software developer, I can say that this "feels" par for the course for so…

> APT28 had consistently compiled Russian language settings into their malware. The second was that malware compile times from 2007 to 2014 corresponded to normal business hours in the UTC + 4 time zone, which includes major Russian cities such as Moscow and St. Petersburg. You'd think that a state-sponsored attack would be a little less careless. This seems like a rookie give-away and makes me wonder if this is made…

-Russia's GOV work hrs are 0800thru1800 (not 900-1700)- -Lunch 1300-1500 never be4 n00n- -Last DST happened in 2010-

Re: Ask HN: Do you believe the Russia hacking story?

#37

Post by wonderflpancake »

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Trump had RT and Fox News. Clinton had MSNBC, CNN, Politico, NY Times, Washington Post, and most other MSM.

The whole report sounds so whiney and political. It reminds me of the evergoing effort by the left to dismiss Fox News (or flip the tables, its the same thing). Its an admission that the news that got out, justly or unjustly, wasn't the news they wanted to get out.

The media still purposely confuses the story. It was never about voter machine/count hacking. It was about narrative and whether or not the leaks changed hearts and minds.

Re: Ask HN: Do you believe the Russia hacking story?

#38

Post by avenoir »

mcphage wrote: post #34
avenoir wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> APT28 had consistently compiled Russian language settings into their malware. The second was that malware compile times from 2007 to 2014 corresponded to normal business hours in the UTC + 4 time zone, which includes major Russian cities such as Moscow and St. Petersburg. You'd think that a state-sponsored attack would be a little less careless. This seems like a rookie give-away and makes me wonder if this is made…

What you're saying is, it looks like Russia, so it wasn't Russia. But if it didn't look like Russia, then maybe it would have been Russia.

Perhaps I shouldn't have made such a wild claim. I was just taken aback at the lack of competence due to lots of giveaways hidden in plain sight. Hard to believe that a state-sponsored cyber espionage actor doesn't realize that the first thing investigators would do is disassemble the executable once it's discovered. I guess everything's possible. @bjourne does make a good point in his reply.

Re: Ask HN: Do you believe the Russia hacking story?

#39

Post by ddw »

morganvachon wrote: post #4
setra wrote: post #2

Watching various media outlets they tend to say something along the lines of: "Russia hacked the election!". Reporting on the hack of the DNC / Podesta, followed by saying that Russia attempted to influence the US election. Both of which are documented and true events. However they attempt to conflate the two in presentation into the literal "Russia hacked John Podesta and Clinton to help Trump". Which is not justifi…

I think the first (Russia hacked to install Trump) is more likely than the second (Russia successfully hacked US voting machines). I draw this conclusion only because of things I had noticed long before the hacks came to light, mostly Trump's ambiguity regarding his relationship with Putin and Russia from a business point of view. It didn't help his position when he started appointing Russia-friendly cabinet members.…

Absolutely this. If he were transparent about his financial dealings we would know how much Russia really means to him.

My guess is Putin has compromised Trump and Trump as POTUS benefits Russia greatly.

Re: Ask HN: Do you believe the Russia hacking story?

#40

Post by ddw »

morganvachon wrote: post #4
setra wrote: post #2

Watching various media outlets they tend to say something along the lines of: "Russia hacked the election!". Reporting on the hack of the DNC / Podesta, followed by saying that Russia attempted to influence the US election. Both of which are documented and true events. However they attempt to conflate the two in presentation into the literal "Russia hacked John Podesta and Clinton to help Trump". Which is not justifi…

I think the first (Russia hacked to install Trump) is more likely than the second (Russia successfully hacked US voting machines). I draw this conclusion only because of things I had noticed long before the hacks came to light, mostly Trump's ambiguity regarding his relationship with Putin and Russia from a business point of view. It didn't help his position when he started appointing Russia-friendly cabinet members.…

Absolutely this. If he were transparent about his financial dealings we would know how much Russia really means to him.

My guess is Putin has compromised Trump and Trump as POTUS benefits Russia greatly.

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