Post: #1

source

Quote:Russia’s cyberattack on the U.S. electoral system before Donald Trump’s election was far more widespread than has been publicly revealed, including incursions into voter databases and software systems in almost twice as many states as previously reported.

In Illinois, investigators found evidence that cyber intruders tried to delete or alter voter data. The hackers accessed software designed to be used by poll workers on Election Day, and in at least one state accessed a campaign finance database. Details of the wave of attacks, in the summer and fall of 2016, were provided by three people with direct knowledge of the U.S. investigation into the matter. In all, the Russian hackers hit systems in a total of 39 states, one of them said.

The scope and sophistication so concerned Obama administration officials that they took an unprecedented step -- complaining directly to Moscow over a modern-day “red phone.” In October, two of the people said, the White House contacted the Kremlin on the back channel to offer detailed documents of what it said was Russia’s role in election meddling and to warn that the attacks risked setting off a broader conflict.

The new details, buttressed by a classified National Security Agency document recently disclosed by the Intercept, show the scope of alleged hacking that federal investigators are scrutinizing as they look into whether Trump campaign officials may have colluded in the efforts. But they also paint a worrisome picture for future elections: The newest portrayal of potentially deep vulnerabilities in the U.S.’s patchwork of voting technologies comes less than a week after former FBI Director James Comey warned Congress that Moscow isn’t done meddling.

“They’re coming after America,” Comey told the Senate Intelligence Committee investigating Russian interference in the election. “They will be back.”

A spokeswoman for the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Washington declined to comment on the agency’s probe.

Kremlin Denials

Russian officials have publicly denied any role in cyber attacks connected to the U.S. elections, including a massive “spear phishing” effort that compromised Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee, among hundreds of other groups. President Vladimir Putin said in recent comments to reporters that criminals inside the country could have been involved without having been sanctioned by the Russian government.

One of the mysteries about the 2016 presidential election is why Russian intelligence, after gaining access to state and local systems, didn’t try to disrupt the vote. One possibility is that the American warning was effective. Another former senior U.S. official, who asked for anonymity to discuss the classified U.S. probe into pre-election hacking, said a more likely explanation is that several months of hacking failed to give the attackers the access they needed to master America’s disparate voting systems spread across more than 7,000 local jurisdictions.

Such operations need not change votes to be effective. In fact, the Obama administration believed that the Russians were possibly preparing to delete voter registration information or slow vote tallying in order to undermine confidence in the election. That effort went far beyond the carefully timed release of private communications by individuals and parties.

One former senior U.S. official expressed concern that the Russians now have three years to build on their knowledge of U.S. voting systems before the next presidential election, and there is every reason to believe they will use what they have learned in future attacks.

Secure Channel

As the first test of a communication system designed to de-escalate cyber conflict between the two countries, the cyber “red phone” -- not a phone, in fact, but a secure messaging channel for sending urgent messages and documents -- didn’t quite work as the White House had hoped. NBC News first reported that use of the red phone by the White House last December.

The White House provided evidence gathered on Russia’s hacking efforts and reasons why the U.S. considered it dangerously aggressive. Russia responded by asking for more information and providing assurances that it would look into the matter even as the hacking continued, according to the two people familiar with the response.

“Last year, as we detected intrusions into websites managed by election officials around the country, the administration worked relentlessly to protect our election infrastructure,” said Eric Schultz, a spokesman for former President Barack Obama. “Given that our election systems are so decentralized, that effort meant working with Democratic and Republican election administrators from all across the country to bolster their cyber defenses.”

Illinois Database

Illinois, which was among the states that gave the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security almost full access to investigate its systems, provides a window into the hackers’ successes and failures.

In early July 2016, a contractor who works two or three days a week at the state board of elections detected unauthorized data leaving the network, according to Ken Menzel, general counsel for the Illinois board of elections. The hackers had gained access to the state’s voter database, which contained information such as names, dates of birth, genders, driver’s licenses and partial Social Security numbers on 15 million people, half of whom were active voters. As many as 90,000 records were ultimately compromised.

But even if the entire database had been deleted, it might not have affected the election, according to Menzel. Counties upload records to the state, not the other way around, and no data moves from the database back to the counties, which run the elections. The hackers had no way of knowing that when they attacked the state database, Menzel said.

The state does, however, process online voter registration applications that are sent to the counties for approval, Menzel said. When voters are added to the county rolls, that information is then sent back to the state and added to the central database. This process, which is common across states, does present an opportunity for attackers to manipulate records at their inception.

Patient Zero

Illinois became Patient Zero in the government’s probe, eventually leading investigators to a hacking pandemic that touched four out of every five U.S. states.

Using evidence from the Illinois computer banks, federal agents were able to develop digital “signatures” -- among them, Internet Protocol addresses used by the attackers -- to spot the hackers at work.

The signatures were then sent through Homeland Security alerts and other means to every state. Thirty-seven states reported finding traces of the hackers in various systems, according to one of the people familiar with the probe. In two others -- Florida and California -- those traces were found in systems run by a private contractor managing critical election systems.

(An NSA document reportedly leaked by Reality Winner, the 25-year-old government contract worker arrested last week, identifies the Florida contractor as VR Systems, which makes an electronic voter identification system used by poll workers.)

In Illinois, investigators also found evidence that the hackers tried but failed to alter or delete some information in the database, an attempt that wasn’t previously reported. That suggested more than a mere spying mission and potentially a test run for a disruptive attack, according to the people familiar with the continuing U.S. counterintelligence inquiry.


That idea would obsess the Obama White House throughout the summer and fall of 2016, outweighing worries over the DNC hack and private Democratic campaign emails given to Wikileaks and other outlets, according to one of the people familiar with those conversations. The Homeland Security Department dispatched special teams to help states strengthen their cyber defenses, and some states hired private security companies to augment those efforts.

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In many states, the extent of the Russian infiltration remains unclear. The federal government had no direct authority over state election systems, and some states offered limited cooperation. When then-DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson said last August that the department wanted to declare the systems as national critical infrastructure -- a designation that gives the federal government broader powers to intervene -- Republicans balked. Only after the election did the two sides eventually reach a deal to make the designation.

Relations with Russia remain strained. The cyber red phone was announced in 2011 as a provision in the countries’ Nuclear Risk Reduction Centers to allow urgent communication to defuse a possible cyber conflict. In 2008, what started during the Cold War as a teletype messaging system became a secure system for transferring messages and documents over fiber-optic lines.

After the Obama administration transmitted its documents and Russia asked for more information, the hackers’ work continued. According to the leaked NSA document, hackers working for Russian military intelligence were trying to take over the computers of 122 local election officials just days before the Nov. 8 election.

While some inside the Obama administration pressed at the time to make the full scope of the Russian activity public, the White House was ultimately unwilling to risk public confidence in the election’s integrity, people familiar with those discussions said.

Damn, this has ended any admiration I had of Russia. What do you all think RVFers?

Post: #2

Everyone on the forum knows where to find fake news.

If I wasn't on my phone I'd follow that up with an OP is faggot meme.

Post: #3

LOL Russia--Soviet or otherwise--will never outdo the State of Illinois when it comes to "undermining confidence in the election."

Post: #4

Same shit, only the roles changed. I'm sure the US does the same thing in regards to many countries.

Post: #5

And where exactly can this evidence be obtained or browsed? Must we take Bloomberg's words as gospel? Are they known to be neutral objective information dealers?

Post: #6

From my experience running a tech company - employing some particularly brilliant software engineers, who count hacking as a hobby - my understanding is that if you have the money to cover your tracks, which would amount to pennies for a state actor, then you can make it completely impossible to trace the source of a hack.

If the Russian's had hacked everything they were supposed to have hacked, and left evidence, then that can only be because they wanted the US to know they'd done it. You have to wonder what on earth the Russians would gain by making it known that they'd tampered with the electoral process (untraceable, unknown (to the hackee) infiltration other countries' computer systems being a given as part of the work all intelligence agencies are actively engaged in). The returns on such an action would be so uncertain, and the outcome not controllable or particularly advantageous in any case, that it's very hard to understand why they would do such a thing. It doesn't seem to be a question getting asked very much.

Post: #7

(((Bloomberg)))

Post: #8

Talk about "hacking", then mention Russia without any freaking evidence whatsoever.

This has been "investigated" since July of last freaking year. If there was any evidence whatsoever regarding Russia and the election then it would have been presented before the election, not after.

Post: #9

I think what this really means is that the DNC has been hacking into all of these things and is trying to switch the blame to Russia.

Post: #10

(06-15-2017 11:04 AM)H1N1 Wrote:  From my experience running a tech company - employing some particularly brilliant software engineers, who count hacking as a hobby - my understanding is that if you have the money to cover your tracks, which would amount to pennies for a state actor, then you can make it completely impossible to trace the source of a hack.

If the Russian's had hacked everything they were supposed to have hacked, and left evidence, then that can only be because they wanted the US to know they'd done it. You have to wonder what on earth the Russians would gain by making it known that they'd tampered with the electoral process (untraceable, unknown (to the hackee) infiltration other countries' computer systems being a given as part of the work all intelligence agencies are actively engaged in). The returns on such an action would be so uncertain, and the outcome not controllable or particularly advantageous in any case, that it's very hard to understand why they would do such a thing. It doesn't seem to be a question getting asked very much.

(06-15-2017 11:11 AM)Fisto Wrote:  I think what this really means is that the DNC has been hacking into all of these things and is trying to switch the blame to Russia.

Exactly. False flag

Post: #11

Thrill Jackson, I mean this with all due respect, but you did not read this article critically at all.

This was a fluff piece that has been circulated for the past couple days or so. I saw this same one on yahoo.

This article was written as if it was authoritatively true that Russia was involved. Said who? Authorities? Sources said?

This is the problem with modern journalism. Fucking lazy.

No investigative work to speak of. No examples or evidence. Just accusations.

Even the motive is junk.

Don't take my word for it. Read it yourself:

They go from saying they interfered with the election to alleging that they just merely stole voter data from a database. Then they guess that maybe they stole it for a future attack.

Dude, think about that. What sense does that make? One of those things is not the same thing from a verbal logical reasoning perspective.

If I ran a hacker cabal, and wanted to get phone numbers and addresses of targets that work as US govt. employees of the CIA and all I know are their names. What would be the best places to get that information? Voter rolls. Hospital patient data. Their local doctors offices in 100 miles of where I think they live. This is just thinking out loud. What if I just wanted social security numbers so that I can pass the security questions on the phone of some old lady's credit card that I stole? Attack her doctor's office. Need her zip code address? Come on.

Hackers go for the soft underbelly of something. Never attack the front gate unless there is a hole on one side of it. Stealing data most of the time is for identity theft and card skimming and scamming. In other words, money.

Russia for probably the last 10-15 years or so has been harboring the most credit card scammers in the world. That's their real crime no Democrat will ever admit to. It's so bad even Mastercard and Visa are FINALLY moving to the Chip and Pin system the Brits have been using for a long time. The banks pay the most when people steal your card information and make bogus charges. Russians made most of the best tools for skimming. Putin has arrested very few to my knowledge. Probably because he does not give a fuck about Westerner's banks and our money. Pirates can only exist if someone else ignores or protects them.

Anyway, this isn't proof of election tampering or proof. For all you know the CIA did it to give Obama a reason to crackdown under the guise of a false flag op.

Until they hand over all the malwares, IP addresses, tools, and other forensic evidences so that other cybersecurity professionals can examine them, I don't believe a word of this. That DHS report Comey released during the election as proof of the DNC intrusion was full of false data and had zero proof inside. They got ripped so badly for that last report, they won't release another one like that anytime soon.

Stop letting these people fool you with generic ass hell "computer talk". Even if you do not have high end computer skills, read between the lines and follow the logic.

Post: #12

I'm more worried about the dead people in Chicago voting democrat three or four times in a single election than I am "muh Russians."

They got more ex-governors making license plates in prison than walking free in that state.

Post: #13

Does this mean we can finally start investigating the millions of illegals that voted in California? I hear the KGB agents were there that day, handing out free tortillas next to polling locations.

Post: #14

Ha, so the hacking has focused in Illinois? Gee, which was the state that was notorious for crooked democrats again?

Post: #15

Russia has such seasoned hackers that they cannot even mask their IP numbers.

What they likely found at the most are normal automated bots that come from all over the world - yes - including Russia.

They do indeed double down on the Fake News.

Post: #16

(06-16-2017 08:54 AM)Zelcorpion Wrote:  Russia has such seasoned hackers that they cannot even mask their IP numbers.

What they likely found at the most are normal automated bots that come from all over the world - yes - including Russia.

They do indeed double down on the Fake News.

You and I can buy Russian made malware and exploits and plug them into Metasploit or Backtrack for uber pwnage. When a forensics investigator examines what you did, and sees Russian malware signatures and footprints, only a govt. agency would be stupid enough to conclude that it was 100% Russian.

In private sector, we usually know better than to assume that. Even Chinese hackers have been known to take, steal, or copy Russian made malware and use it for themselves.

Brazilian hackers do it too, but often times they are so sloppy they do not care about other lingering evidence or they leave calling cards.

Anyway it's easy to buy Russian made tools off hacker forums or Russian/Ukrainian hacking forums and chat groups.

Hacking for fun ended back around 2006-ish or so. Only hacking for profit, occasional hacktivists (like Guccifer 2.0), corporate espionage (intellectual property theft), and national cyberarmies, are left these days. Even Cyberarmies activities are mostly money related (which is what war is mostly about, money).

Hacking isn't cheap anymore like it used to be. More tools are needed than ever before and many of them are not free. Botnets are a poorman's supercomputer. Custom tools you either need to write yourself or hire someone. Again, not free or cheap to do. Cyber armies are very expensive to maintain, train, and build. When they waste cycles attacking voter machines, that takes away from defense or other mission objectives. That is why I think motive is important. When people accuse Russian Cyber Armies for attacking electrical grids, the motives are possible and fit Russia's military strategy (like how they knocked out grids before moving in with military in the last two invasions). With clear motives, then forensic evidence is all that is left to make a solid determination.

Post: #17

Traveler Kai, are you saying we are or will be having having Neuromancer style cowboys?

Post: #18

(06-16-2017 11:24 AM)El_Gostro Wrote:  Traveler Kai, are you saying we are or will be having having Neuromancer style cowboys?

I have no idea what that is, so I cannot confirm your question. I tried Google searching what you wrote and it references some scifi book from the 80s?

Post: #19

(06-15-2017 12:43 PM)Handsome Creepy Eel Wrote:  Does this mean we can finally start investigating the millions of illegals that voted in California? I hear the KGB agents were there that day, handing out free tortillas next to polling locations.

Good point. Note how the Russian hacking story came right on the heels of California voting fraud being investigated.

What a coincidence.

Post: #20

(06-16-2017 08:54 AM)Zelcorpion Wrote:  Russia has such seasoned hackers that they cannot even mask their IP numbers.

What they likely found at the most are normal automated bots that come from all over the world - yes - including Russia.

They do indeed double down on the Fake News.

Wrong! The Russian hackers are so good that they completely erase all traces of their nefarious deeds! That's the reason why there is zero evidence for Russian hacking, which completely proves that there was hacking.

^I'm almost willing to put money on this actually being what some leftist somewhere is arguing.

Post: #21

(06-16-2017 12:34 PM)TravelerKai Wrote:  

(06-16-2017 11:24 AM)El_Gostro Wrote:  Traveler Kai, are you saying we are or will be having having Neuromancer style cowboys?

I have no idea what that is, so I cannot confirm your question. I tried Google searching what you wrote and it references some scifi book from the 80s?

The novel "Neuromancer" is often credited with having officially launched the cyberpunk setting (arguably Phillip K Dick's works could have preceded), specially in what concerns the whole 80's "matrix network and head implanted data Jack's thing.
In this novel "cowboys" are hackers for hire who of course usually are employed by corporate/crime syndicate shadow patrons for conducting industrial espionage.

Post: #22

Hypno: Fake News in U.S. Electoral System Far Wider Than Previously Known