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Six GRU Officers Charged in Connection with Worldwide Deployment of Malware

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Re: Six GRU Officers Charged in Connection with Worldwide Deployment of Malware

#41

Post by kube-system »

monocasa wrote: post #9
pjc50 wrote: post #5

Keeping this to post under all those comments saying there was nothing to "Russiagate".

A press release for indictments for people you're never going to arrest or have a trial for is nothing more than propaganda. If they actually cared about catching these people, they'd keep the indictments secret so that they might go to a country that has an extradition treaty with the US.

I'd imagine the defendants are well aware that the US and allied countries are not places they'd want to take a casual vacation given their line of work.

I am sure the authorities involved are well aware of these people's travel patterns when making these decisions.

If you're never going to catch someone, might as well name-and-shame them -- and send a warning to anyone else who might want to commit the same crimes.

Re: Six GRU Officers Charged in Connection with Worldwide Deployment of Malware

#42

Post by monocasa »

kube-system wrote: post #41
monocasa wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A press release for indictments for people you're never going to arrest or have a trial for is nothing more than propaganda. If they actually cared about catching these people, they'd keep the indictments secret so that they might go to a country that has an extradition treaty with the US.

I'd imagine the defendants are well aware that the US and allied countries are not places they'd want to take a casual vacation given their line of work. I am sure the authorities involved are well aware of these people's travel patterns when making these decisions. If you're never going to catch someone, might as well name-and-shame them -- and send a warning to anyone else who might want to commit the same crimes.

Now they know not to go to countries like Egypt, Jordan, or Myanmar, which might not otherwise be very clear to them.

Re: Six GRU Officers Charged in Connection with Worldwide Deployment of Malware

#43

Post by dx87 »

ineedasername wrote: post #40

I'm torn when it comes to the utility of making public indictments of this sort when the truth is there will never be any arrest or trial. Making them public lets Russia know we're aware of their actions, which in turn may drive them to greater efforts to make these actions harder to detect and therefore harder to defend against. I also wonder if making these public, detrimental and unnecessary, is just a cynical plo…

It could also just be done as a thinly veiled threat to discourage people from working there. Even if nobody is arrested, the statement is basically saying "it doesn't matter where you are, or how secretive your work is, we can find you". I can imagine spouses and family would suggest they start looking for a different job after seeing the announcment.

Re: Six GRU Officers Charged in Connection with Worldwide Deployment of Malware

#46

Post by fsagx »

ineedasername wrote: post #40

I'm torn when it comes to the utility of making public indictments of this sort when the truth is there will never be any arrest or trial. Making them public lets Russia know we're aware of their actions, which in turn may drive them to greater efforts to make these actions harder to detect and therefore harder to defend against. I also wonder if making these public, detrimental and unnecessary, is just a cynical plo…

A PR indictment of this sort accomplishes nothing besides making the DOJ look even more foolish or amateurish. The only thing interesting is to figure out whom it is supposed benefit.

If anyone were to actually show up to face these charges, they will eventually be dismissed, as happened to two of the Mueller indictees.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/16/us/politics/concord-case-...

Re: Six GRU Officers Charged in Connection with Worldwide Deployment of Malware

#47

Post by spacemanmatt »

dboreham wrote: post #3

> The department is also grateful to Google, including its Threat Analysis Group (TAG); Cisco, including its Talos Intelligence Group; Facebook; and Twitter, for the assistance they provided in this investigation.

I am also grateful. I don't know if it would make any sense to go into this analysis without input from security teams at some of the most attacked sites/hardware vendors.

Re: Six GRU Officers Charged in Connection with Worldwide Deployment of Malware

#48

Post by SCHiM »

dx87 wrote: post #43
ineedasername wrote: post #40

I'm torn when it comes to the utility of making public indictments of this sort when the truth is there will never be any arrest or trial. Making them public lets Russia know we're aware of their actions, which in turn may drive them to greater efforts to make these actions harder to detect and therefore harder to defend against. I also wonder if making these public, detrimental and unnecessary, is just a cynical plo…

It could also just be done as a thinly veiled threat to discourage people from working there. Even if nobody is arrested, the statement is basically saying "it doesn't matter where you are, or how secretive your work is, we can find you". I can imagine spouses and family would suggest they start looking for a different job after seeing the announcment.

Indeed. And as GP said. If you force your adversary to take more precautions you're driving up the cost, increase the time it takes for them to perform operations, makes them need more experienced/educated personnel, more procedures to catch mistakes, etc. etc.

That's not a bad thing for Russia's adversaries.

Re: Six GRU Officers Charged in Connection with Worldwide Deployment of Malware

#49

Post by yters »

grumio wrote: post #36
yters wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am even more confused by this comment. How is this propaganda?

Edit: Just because the public announcement may be construed as propaganda, it doesn't mean that the charges were necessarily wholly made-up. The case for it being propaganda goes something like this: Barr's DoJ is making this charge publicly released so that the US can appear to be "tough on Russia." Despite Trump failing to condemn Navalny's Novichok poisoning or taking action regarding the intel on Russian blood-bo…

That seems a pretty wide scope for propaganda. Then anything that puts Trump in a good light becomes propaganda, even if it is a legitimate good thing that happened in his administration, and even if it has nothing to do with Trump. This whole Russiagate thing is super confusing on both sides.

Re: Six GRU Officers Charged in Connection with Worldwide Deployment of Malware

#50

Post by grumio »

yters wrote: post #49
grumio wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Edit: Just because the public announcement may be construed as propaganda, it doesn't mean that the charges were necessarily wholly made-up. The case for it being propaganda goes something like this: Barr's DoJ is making this charge publicly released so that the US can appear to be "tough on Russia." Despite Trump failing to condemn Navalny's Novichok poisoning or taking action regarding the intel on Russian blood-bo…

That seems a pretty wide scope for propaganda. Then anything that puts Trump in a good light becomes propaganda, even if it is a legitimate good thing that happened in his administration, and even if it has nothing to do with Trump. This whole Russiagate thing is super confusing on both sides.

Yeah idk if it'd be my first conclusion. But I think that's the propaganda line of reasoning. No proof that it's propaganda, but there is a sliver of plausibility.
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