Posted on 03/24/2017 2:37:49 PM PDT by markomalley
The question of whether political operative Roger Stone helped Russian hackers break into the email of Democratic politicians, to some people, invites another: Who says the hackers were Russian?
The FBI does, and so do several U.S. intelligence agencies, as they’ve declared repeatedly over the past five months. But among private-sector computer security companies, not everybody thinks the case is proven.
“I have no problem blaming Russia for what they do, which is a lot,” said Jeffrey Carr of the international cybersecurity company Taia Global Inc. “I just don’t want to blame them for things we don’t know that they did. It may turn out that they’re guilty, but we are very short on evidence here.”
As Carr notes, the FBI never examined the servers that were hacked at the Democratic National Committee. Instead, the DNC used the private computer security company CrowdStrike to detect and repair the penetrations.
“All the forensic work on those servers was done by CrowdStrike, and everyone else is relying on information they provided,” said Carr. “And CrowdStrike was the one to declare this the work of the Russians.”
The CrowdStrike argument relies heavily on the fact that remnants of a piece of malware known as AGENT-X were found in the DNC computers. AGENT-X collects and transmits hacked files to rogue computers.
“AGENT-X has been around for ages and ages, and its use has always been attributed to the Russian government, a theory that’s known in the industry as ‘exclusive use,’” Carr said. “The problem with exclusive use is that it’s completely false. Unlike a bomb or an artillery shell, malware doesn’t detonate on impact and destroy itself.
“You can recover it, reverse-engineer it, and reuse it. The U.S. government learned a lesson about that when it created the Stuxnet computer worm to destroy Iran’s nuclear program. Stuxnet survived and now other people have it.”
Carr said he is aware of at least two working copies of AGENT-X outside Russian hands. One is in the possession of a group of Ukrainian hackers he has spoken with, and the other is with an American cybersecurity company. “And if an American security company has it, you can be certain other people do, too,” he said.
There’s growing doubt in the computer security industry about CrowdStrike’s theories about AGENT-X and Russian hackers, Carr said, including some critical responses to a CrowdStrike report on Russian use of the malware to disable Ukrainian artillery.
“This is a close-knit community and criticizing a member to the outside world is kind of like talking out of turn,” Carr said. “I’ve been repeatedly criticized for speaking out in public about whether the hacking was really done by the Russians. But this has to be made public, has to be addressed, and has to be acknowledged by the House and Senate Intelligence Committees.”
Or were they just in a hurry?
Part of the law on trade secrets is based upon how well “protected” the secret was.
Considering what Hillary did with the emails and server, could anyone claim that it was “well protected”?
Don’t know much about the Russians, but Podesta’s gave his password out to a phishing email - ‘p@ssw0rd’
My odds are 75% disgruntled Bernie supporters.
could be numerous different groups
and/or governments
Of course they were Russian. Look, they used a famous Russian spyware tool. (which the CIA has according to wikileaks) And look, they used some Cyrillic letters in their code and did the work at 3am, during normal work hours in Russia (Like the vault 7 document instructed CIA people to carefully do when impersonating a Russian).
And last, just for fun. The intel community says its Russia.
Can anyone think of a single time the CIA was honest with the American people? Even once?
WMDs, Benghazi, Libya, rendition, 5 eyes, Saudi connections to 9/11, dope smuggling into Mena Arkansas to fund the Contras, golden triangle heroin, the French connection, COINTELPRO, testing of LSD on people without permission, killing of JFK, missile gap, bomber gap, Fast and Furious, deals with Sinaloa, Syria Egypt and Libya were all natural indigenous uprisings, we don’t collect the communications of the American people in bulk... the list is endless.
If they tell you something, the opposite is always true. This rule never fails me.....ever.
> Who says the hackers were Russian? [] The FBI does, and so do several U.S. intelligence agencies
Based on a report provided by Crowdstrike, NOT independent investigation. The DNC refused access.
Why does Crowdstrike’s Alperovitch refer to APT 28 and APT 29 as “Fancy Bear” and “Cozy Bear”? Why use these colorful names rather than the accepted technical names? (APT stands for Advanced Persistent Threat).
Is Alperovitch selling an idea, supporting a narrative?
No, but thanks for asking.
Wanna see EVERY online photo of them..?
That's ALL of them.
That's VERY spy-centric behavior, or it's the trail remaining after someone pretty professional cleaned-up after them.
Not that it has to be a State actor by any means given the shoddy security they and Hillary had and given the Muzzies running so much of the Congressional systems and who were probably selling access to anyone with cash in hand.
Info on the Awan breach has disappeared.
“Can anyone think of a single time the CIA was honest with the American people? Even once?”
It used to be said that Air America, the CIA operation, was the only US government entity to ever turn a profit.
I’m crushed.
Are we talking about DNC computers ( the ones Wasseman Schultz used to sabotage Bernie Sanders and give Hillary the nomination, the ones handed over to the Pakistani spies) or Hillarys computer or podesta’s computer ??? Everyone is just parroting the same garbage over and over about “ computers” ...
Why in the name of God would anyone think the Chinese wanted hillary out of the WH? Of all countries
Israel who knows what to believe
They are not what they seem ( “ allies”) all the time
For the FBI to flatly state that the Russians hacked the e-mails without actually having inspected the machines is poor, especially with the implications for the current effort to destroy and claim our president is illegitimate. They were denied access by the Democrats, and are using the word of a company, hired by the Democrats and paid by the Democrats to further the Democrat charges. Who owns CrowdStrike? What affiliation do its executives have with the Democrats? What association do they have with the Clintons or the Clinton Foundation? There are a lot of questions that should be asked and answered.
Didn't Guccifer 2.0 release a document that had been modified by a word processor registered to Felix Edmundovich (surname missing)? Guccifer has a sense of humor.
Felix might have had great potential as a hacker, if he'd been born a century or so later.
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