Russian hackers (fl. 2008- ) break into computers for a living. They have stolen billions from banks, disabled power plants in Ukraine, shut down the Internet in Estonia, and likely helped Donald Trump get elected president in the US – among other things. Some are plain old criminals or thrill seekers, others are spies working for the Russian government.
Tricks of the trade:
- malware – programs that get into a computer to do the hacker’s bidding, like recording keystrokes or copying files.
- spear-phishing: sending emails to users of interest, like John Podesta, to get them to enter their password, credit card information, etc, or to infect their computer with malware. This is done by getting them to open an email attachment or go to a waterhole:
- waterhole: looks just like a trusted website but has been set up by hackers to get your password, get malware onto your computer, etc. In most cases the only way an ordinary person can tell it is fake is from its URL:
- typosquatting – using a URL that looks like the right one, but is off in some way. For example, the website to give money to the Democratic Party was ActBlue.com – so hackers set up a website that looked just like it but was at ActBlues.com. Spot the difference! Not everyone does.
Note that “computer” can mean your mobile phone, not just a laptop or desktop computer.
Dramatis Personae:
- CrowdStrike – the US cybersecurity firm that looked into the computer break-in at the Democratic National Committee (DNC).
- Cozy Bear – the name given by CrowdStrike to the hackers who broke into the DNC computers in 2015. Called “Bear” because they believe them to be Russian.
- Fancy Bear – broke into the DNC computers a year later, in 2016. Did not seem to know about the Cozy Bear hack, copying some of the same files. CrowdStrike believes Cozy Bear and Fancy Bear work for different branches of Russian intelligence.
- Guccifer 2.0 – a WordPress blogger who claims to be Cozy Bear, but says he is not a “bear” (Russian) but Romanian. Says CrowdStrike blamed the Russians to cover their own incompetence.
- Julian Assange – the Australian hacker who runs WikiLeaks, the website that made files from DNC computers public. He denies they came from Russians.
Are Cozy Bear and Fancy Bear Russian spies? Most likely:
- The hacks were extremely professional, among the best in the business.
- Most of the malware was written on a Russian keyboard in Russian time zones.
- Much of the same malware was used to hack the US and Ukrainian militaries – only Russian intelligence would have the means and motive to hack both.
- The DNC material was used to benefit Russia and not, say, China or Iran.
CrowdStrike thinks it was Russian intelligence and has made its findings public.
But, even if all this is true, so far there is no solid proof, no smoking gun, that shows that Donald Trump had anything to do with it. In terms of Watergate, it is still 1972.
– Abagond, 2017.
Source: mainly “The Plot to Hack America” (2016) by Malcolm Nance.
See also:
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As Comey told us, “We’d always prefer to have access hands-on ourselves if that’s possible,” and that FBI made “multiple requests at different levels”.
So why wouldn’t the DNC hand over their servers? As abagond would say, it’s “as if they’re hiding something”.
And I wonder why DNC was so eager to use CrowdStrike?
Maybe it’s because, as I’ve explained before, CrowdStrike’s owner is Russian-American Dmitri Alperovitch who’s been crying “Russian hackers” since 2012. And he’s a fellow at the Atlantic Council, a war monger that’s long posited anti-Russian views (and has paid abagond’s boss a lot of money to speak).
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oooo… scary russians.
be afraid. be very afraid.
love the subliminals ” likely helped Donald Trump get elected “. in spite of no proof. as resw said, the DNC wont give up their servers for some strange reason.
” In terms of Watergate, it is still 1972.”
this is not waregate. or rather this IS watergate. we’re just at whatever stage 1972 represents. subliminally suggesting trump is already guilty before the facts are in.
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talk about wasted resources, i said let me do what i do, just point me in the right direction, it’s not for everybody! boundaries, lol ymmv
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and… we get better day jobs best believe
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first of all, all people seem to need data processing
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zeroes and ones it’s too much, so it is hex
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realy its called the arp table, it’s layer2-3
so tawdry gchq trump etc like daylight does not come through the cloud(s)
as if
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might as well sit on the couch
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tres gauche
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arp/rarp you got that you good
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the arp table the computer will talk to you tell you anything you want they can have this whole thing encryption who cares i know who you are or i dont
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its so easy
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and if you a effing american be friends with some dam marines they will not let you down that is all have a nice day 🙂
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Seems the Russians have hacked V8 lol
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no mjb no. it aint no paintball
i just want to say water seek it level
no it me right now it’s tom right here
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if you dont know i be tryin to tell you ah man the closest was the SANS course i had in DC damn man see what i’m sayin wetanschmerz some bs yo be heard and do what yo do a russian yeah right please.
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i know i’m wierd and all that but no it’s me right here right now
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eff that i effin hacked NASA SSL LAWRENCE BERKELY LABS in 1991 werent no laws about it then wtf seriously mjb you need to let it unfold like let someone tell a story there it is what you know about that back then it was SATAN/COPS OMG
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t rue story SS involved gtfo! what you know about that
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actually prlly about 1/93 i have no respect and it is just the sociaetal contract as if you knew i am done thank you have a blessed day the goddess of luck shes asks nothing
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bye member that?
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no seriously my BI been gone 2 days i know exactly where she at and i’m tryin to not only not go apeish wild on the hood but you know, try to provide some informating, you mjb not helping thanks bro i love ya but…
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so the we done part omg it just hurts a little thats all
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that why i penetrated security last time, a BI jesus freakin christmas they know not what they do
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@ v8driver
Find your balance. Be well and blessed be.
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@ v8driver
Guan Yin, the goddess of compassion — someone to turn to when Fortuna shows you her arse….
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Why start with 2008? This phenomenon is much older, imo.
If they had something to do with the election, well, electing Trump is the best way to see the downfall of the US.
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Definitely starting my book with this chapter as a teaser at least. It doesnt go first.
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o goddess unknown and unknowable, well i used to say that but i think i could write abook on the subject pretty much, well nobody’s perfect, the goddess of luck she doesnt even ask you to pray or anything she’s great
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oopsie i cursed last night, it was sort of a watershed? or something i guess there’s some fruity $8.99 word for it
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the after action report is NIS somehow with no password gave me a network token but the chmod on the protected sensitive file was overriding it, i just gave up after a while, it was like pretty intense, with my sysop trying to stop me lol
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This issue finally seems more complicated than expected
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@v8driver
Comment deleted for moderated language,
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Greetings from hell also known as Russia, this is The Russian Nagpo renamed.
In February 2019, the Russian so-called ‘parliament’ has approved the ”Law” on Independent Internet’ prescribing local Russian Internet operators install traffic controllers making at least 92% of data run thru Russian territory and local networks only.
The Human Rights Council has required the tsar (aka the president) to reconsider the ‘law’.
The reason for the ‘law’ was said to be ‘a threat of Russia being disconnected from the Internet by the evil scheming West’,
The ‘law’ has been approved together with another nasty ‘legislative’ innovation criminalizing hate speech against authorities, clerks and the state.
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