Russian issues

Oh my God!

 

If!

 

President Obama had the DHS and Director of National Intelligence release a "report" "proving" that the "Russians" "hacked the election" back in 2016. Predictably, there's nothing there.

https://www.us-cert.gov/security-publications/GRIZZLY-STEPPE-Russian-Malicious-Cyber-Activity

That's about as much as they bother saying--the rest of the report (easily 90% of its content) is someone's copy-pasted description of various general attack vectors (cross-site scripting, SQL injection, server exploits) and over half the report is "recommended mitigations" (including that popular managerial standby, "best practices"). Of the three pages that purport to provide any evidence of origin, one is simply a list of reported Russian intelligence "handles".

A separate list of IP addresses used shows they came from all over the world, with most sourced from America, followed by Russia, the Netherlands, and so on. To anyone familiar with Internet security, this is normal and proof of absolutely nothing.

WordFence, which makes a security plug-in for WordPress (which, incidentally, leaks like a sieve and is no longer really suitable for web development), looked at the malware sample the government provided and discovered that it's a somewhat outdated piece of software that targets WordPress sites. (Normally one would run a website under separate and limited privileges to prevent exploit of the website to lead to compromise of the entire server, but the computer janitors at the DNC probably opted for security-unconscious shortcuts. At any rate, once you're in you can look for unpatched server vulnerabilities to elevate privileges.)

The specific malware is marked "made in Ukraine", but is commonly available and has been around for quite awhile. WordFence comments:

https://www.wordfence.com/blog/2016/12/russia-malware-ip-hack/

WordFence also provides a graph of the IP addresses that the government claims were used in the attack:

Wordfence concludes:

(Somewhat cheekily, then, the report is titled "US Govt Data Shows Russia Used Outdated Ukrainian PHP Malware".)

So, it's Iraq WMDs all over again: breathe heavy about the evidence for accusing another state of bad things, wring your hands publicly over how you would burn your sources by revealing actual evidence, and then release an embarrassingly threadbare report purporting to back up your claims, which on close reading does nothing of the kind.

Please link the WordFence report everywhere you see this being discussed: https://www.wordfence.com/blog/2016/12/russia-malware-ip-hack/

 

It should be added, of course, that none of this amounts to "hacking the election", even if everything the DHS-DNI report claims is true (and it hardly claims much at all). It is commonly known that all national intelligence agencies in advanced countries conduct routine incursions into foreign government networks, particularly those of strategic interest. Furthermore, there is as yet no real evidence that the phishing attacks which targeted some Democratic Party higher ups are really connected to the release of material by WikiLeaks--we don't, for example, know whether it was "an inside job", e.g. a disgruntled Sanders supporter within (or employed by) the DNC who made available embarrassing material. The near total lack of security or security protocols at the DNC means it could have been anyone, including your kid brother.

The election itself was not hacked in any way, which media shorthand obscures--the implication of "hacking the election" is, to any normal person, that the very process of voting was somehow compromised. As with Iraq WMDs, however, we see again and again this sensational wording used to describe mundane embarrassing leaks, which if anything led to the public being better informed than the media was prepared to do.

The hacks themselves exposed DNC and media collusion plus evidence that Hillary willfully failed to disclose subpoenaed emails (many of which were "accidentally" destroyed), which is the far bigger story. Mainstream reporting on the "hacking" story has turned the Watergate model of investigation on its head: when evidence of high crimes and corruption is leaked, hunt down the leakers and blame them for providing too much information to the public!

This in itself would be the most disturbing aspect of the entire Russian hacking hysteria, if it weren't for the fact that government efforts to scapegoat Russia could very easily lead to a new Cold War, renewed military adventurism, and worse. This is the real story, and mainstream journalism is shamefully delinquent in covering it.

 

This is the one.

 

Interesting the left is hanging on every rumor as if it was fact and the last nail in Trump's coffin. Reminds me of the last 8 or so years....shoe's just on the other foot.
Delicious irony isn't it?