Posted on 08/21/2018 5:21:03 AM PDT by dayglored
Microsoft said Tuesday it has uncovered new Russian hacking attempts targeting U.S. political groups ahead of the midterm elections.
The company said that a hacking group tied to the Russian government created fake internet domains that appeared to spoof two American conservative organizations: the Hudson Institute and the International Republican Institute. Three other fake domains were designed to look as if they belonged to the U.S. Senate.
Microsoft didn’t offer any further description of the fake sites.
The revelation came just weeks after a similar Microsoft discovery led Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Missouri Democrat who is running for re-election, to reveal that Russian hackers tried unsuccessfully to infiltrate her Senate computer network.
The hacking attempts mirror similar Russian attacks ahead of the 2016 election, which U.S. intelligence officials have said were focused on helping to elect Republican Donald Trump to the presidency by hurting his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton.
This time, more than helping one political party over another, “this activity is most fundamentally focused on disrupting democracy,” Brad Smith, Microsoft’s president and chief legal officer, said in an interview this week.
Smith said there is no sign the hackers were successful in persuading anyone to click on the fake websites, which could have exposed a target victim to computer infiltration, hidden surveillance and data theft. Both conservative think tanks said they have tried to be vigilant about “spear-phishing” email attacks because their global pro-democracy work has frequently drawn the ire of authoritarian governments.
“We’re glad that our work is attracting the attention of bad actors,” said Hudson Institute spokesman David Tell. “It means we’re having an effect, presumably.”
The International Republican Institute is led by a board that includes six Republican senators, and one prominent Russia critic and Senate hopeful, Mitt Romney, who is running for a Utah seat this fall.
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...
If Spit Romney is involved the group isn’t conservative.
Please, spend more time reporting on what DIDN’T happen.
”Journalism”. Ha!
Russians are so good at advertising, they make McMann and Tate look like amateurs (even with Samantha).
I have, over the last couple of decades, come across quite a few “fake” internet domains. Usually they exploit the idea that sometimes people misspell a word in the URL and stuff like that.
I have to ask:
1. Are “the Russians” just being singled out because it’s a hot headline. That is, are there thousands of these, but they found a few “Russian” ones and so they are reporting these and ignoring the others.
2. How do we know it’s “the” Russians and not “some Russian guys” or maybe not even Russians at all?
This could be nothing more than a new version of the meme regarding white cops shooting unarmed black men. Sure, it happens, but rarely and they actually shoot a lot more unarmed white guys. But the impression most people ended up with was there was a cops war on unarmed black men, because that is what was constantly being reported.
What didn’t happen is what happened.
Everybody is hacking everybody.
Microsoft should be working on a way to stop hackers in their tracks, not playing CIA.
check out a book called Fatal System Error. itll open your eyes about ‘russian’ and organized crime on the web.
these people should not feel special that the Russians tried to hack/hijack their systems. if you are online, they will try to spoof/phish/zombie/proxy them and everyone.
botnets will one day take down our grid or our payment systems or both. Not EMP.
Big Tech is seeking political cover by claiming to ‘help’ the government. In reality, it’s aiding and abetting the Dems inducement of panic as they want to play the ‘invalid election’ card before or after depending on the polls or results.
IIRC, the consensus of this whole mess of “Russia” was that the “technique” of infiltration was typical of Russian methods.
I’m going to remember that line!
Setting the stage for Democrat’s defeat in November.
So, a left wing fascist supporting organization, Microsoft, makes claims about “Russians” hacking. But, what is the real truth?
1. was there even a real hacking event, or was it made up?
2. if real,
a. was it the Russian government or Russian mob?
b. or was it Chinese hacking, but leaving a breadcrumb to the Russians
c. or my favorite, it was CIA framing the Russians to support their coup
The AP has gone DU. I wouldn’t trust anything they ‘report’.
d. some Russians contracted by HRC via multiple levels of cutouts.
Oh no, you mean to tell me there are fake web sites designed to fool me into doing something I shouldn’t do? I am shocked & appalled!
I am also shocked & appalled that other countries spy on us & try to influence us. Dear Me!
Come on! Espionage & propaganda are older than government itself. It will always be so.
What’s the point of getting the public all worked up over something the “intelligence” & “national security” agencies should be doing? Is it that these agencies are so biased against Trump & conservatives that, rather than doing their jobs protecting this country from foreign interference, instead they have been wasting our time & money doing the illegal bidding of HRC, Obama, & the Demonrats.
...Setting the stage for Democrat’s defeat in November...
Democrat Florida Senator Bill Nelson has already set up the Russia excuse to explain his upcoming November loss.
There is absolutely no proof that this time is any different then the previous time, and that with both times the object was not to promote one party over the other, but rather to sow disruption, period. We need to demand that they abandon the false narrative that it was to aid one candidate, or party, over the other.
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