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Microsoft Government Security Politics

Russian Hackers Targeted US Conservative Think-Tanks, Says Microsoft (reuters.com) 170

Posted by msmash from the where-we-are dept.
retroworks shares a report: Hackers linked to Russia's government tried to target the websites of two right-wing U.S. think-tanks, suggesting they were broadening their attacks in the build-up to November elections, Microsoft said. The software giant said it thwarted the attempts last week by taking control of sites that hackers had designed to mimic the pages of The International Republican Institute and The Hudson Institute. Users were redirected to fake addresses where they were asked to enter usernames and passwords. There was no immediate comment from Russian authorities, but the Kremlin was expected to address the report later on Tuesday. It has regularly dismissed accusations that it has used hackers to influence U.S. elections and political opinion. Casting such allegations as part of an anti-Russian campaign designed to justify new sanctions on Russia, it says it wants to improve not worsen ties with Washington. Further reading: Microsoft Reveals First Known Midterm Campaign Hacking Attempts, and Microsoft Launches Pilot Program To Provide Cybersecurity Protection To Political Campaigns and Election Authorities.
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Russian Hackers Targeted US Conservative Think-Tanks, Says Microsoft More

Russian Hackers Targeted US Conservative Think-Tanks, Says Microsoft

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  • Yeah, of course they did. (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Because they were trying to upload her emails...

  • Grab the popcorn, folks, we're about to see a roundup of the best conspiracy theories and fake news apologetics of the year!

    • Grab the popcorn, folks, we're about to see a roundup of the best conspiracy theories and fake news apologetics of the year!

      Q IS ABOUT TO ROUND UP ALL THE SJWS AND PUT THEM ON THE MOON WITH THE EVOLUTIONISTS AND CLIMATE SCIENTISTS

      I think thats how it goes right? Its getting a bit hard to follow the increasingly loony threads of it.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Like the ridiculous conspiracy theory that the Republicans were working with the Russians. If they were, why this hacking attempt? If Trump was working with them, then why did Russian have so much trouble setting up the Trump Tower meeting? Those conspiracy theories don't make sense.

      • Nah, that one is boring. Do the one with the politicians raping kids in pizza hut.

      • Re:Oh this is gonna be great (Score:4, Insightful)

        by Rob Y. ( 110975 ) on Tuesday August 21, 2018 @12:36PM (#57168186)

        Because this hacking attempt was aimed at Anti-Trump, Anti-Russia Republicans. I.e., not the ones the were working with in the last election. And even those are most likely wary of direct Russian contacts this time around, with Mueller still poking around in their garbage.

      • Like the ridiculous conspiracy theory that the Republicans were working with the Russians. If they were, why this hacking attempt?

        Is there any reason to believe that these attacks were intended to somehow influence voters? Based on the summary, it looks like nothing more than a typical attempt to get passwords from people.

    • popcorn

      I'm waiting for some guilty verdicts. The real entertainment is when they go from being apologetic to apoplectic.

  • Russians (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    I've been trying to find an article explaining exactly how these attacks are being linked to Russia. I'd appreciate if someone could post a link. I'm not saying anyone is lying or anything, but a lot of these hacking articles say there are linked to Russia, but how do they know?

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Well Podesta's email password was "password", so anyone could have gotten those emails (Russia might have been involved here, but there will be no proof)
      Sydney Blumenthall was hacked by Guiccifer 2.0, a Romanian not a Russian (People claim he is Russian, but have no evidence of that)
      DNC emails were hacked by their own admin from Pakistan, and once found out DW Schultz covered up for it and is to this day. Pakistan intelligence has all of the DNC emails since the admin was a family member of a high ranking

      • You might have seen some headlines about 12 Russians being indicted for the hacks attributed to the group persona "Guiccifer 2.0."

        I mean, either you know that Guiccifer 2.0 is a name used by a Russian military intelligence (GRU) and are just lying, or else you don't even follow the subject and your claim to have a bunch of words worth of analysis is a lie. You're completely full of shit either way.

        It is true that they used some Romanian servers, and probably even visited Romania.

        12 indictments of Russians f

    • Lots of indicators. Know your favorite band (Score:4, Interesting)

      by raymorris ( 2726007 ) on Tuesday August 21, 2018 @11:08AM (#57167458) Journal

      I haven't seen yet how Microsoft linked this particular incident, but in general there are many ways. Each group has their own favored tools, techniques, and overall style. When you do it for a living, you get to know them. All combined, it's like a pop radio DJ identifying a new Justin Bieber song, the DJ knows Bieber's sound.

      Some groups specialize in certain malware. They have one or two members who are good at actually writing the malware etc. They keep making improvements or variations on the same malware. Other members distribute the malware, repeatedly using the same methods, targeting the same type of targets. They host the malware or other web resources in the same places that worked well last time. Sometimes they talk about things on hacker forums. If you've been a member of such a forum for a few years, most people there assume you're okay - not a cop.

      You may recall a few years ago someone called "Stonetewr" was asking on Reddit about how to delete evidence from a server for "a very VIP". Paul Combetta, who worked on Clinton's server, used the email address stonetear@gmail.com and used the name Stonetear on Etsy. Knowing that Stonetear wanted to wipe a server for "a very VIP" a day or two before someone at Combetta's company wiped Hillary's server, and knowing that Combetta goes by Stonetear, it's not hard to figure out that Combetta was working on wiping Hillary's server. No IP tracing required, and it doesn't matter how many proxies and VPNs he used.

      On Slashdot, if a new account popped up called JelloLover and they uses ten times as many commas as grammar would indicate, while randomly capitalizing a few words for no reason and saying the things that Jellomizer says, some of us would recognize that's probably Jellomizer's new account. It's similar with the crackers - you get to know them.

      Before the US government publicly accuses the Russian government of a specific attack, we can expect the NSA and others would make use of their rather significant data collection capabilities to make some even firmer connections. That's not necessary in order in order for someone who follows the Russian hackers every day to be able to recognize them, though.

      Someone might say "it could be a false flag! Someone could impersonate the FSB, just like someone could impersonate Jellomizer or MDSolar!" Yeah, someone COULD post something silly about solar electric, breathlessly pitching whatever MDSolar's company is selling this month. Which would make it look like - MDSolar is spamming his products again? We'd think it was MDSolar because the impersonator was acting like MDSolar, which would fool us into thinking that MDSolar acts like MDSolar. The job of the FSB is to do cyberattacks on Russia's rivals. If someone were being tricky and trying to make a hack look like the work of the FSB, they'd be making it look like FSB is doing their job. I guess maybe the NSA wants Alexander Bortnikov to get a raise?

      • You are ignoring a few important factors. Code like Stuxnet is probably going to have lots of hints to the identity, but there is going to be considerably less data on low-level phishing, and greater chance of using off-the-shelf tools. That takes the ability to accurately ID from levels similar to someone posting in a very distinct style to an AC who posts "FROSTY PISS."

  • Russians know better than to target people who only listen to their own self-interest.
  • Seriously. It was never like this before. This was never a place where we had to debate objective facts, and not a place where reality was subject to political opinion. It is bots? Is it trolls? Is it that the demographics of the technology, engineering,and scientifically inclined have changed so much?

    • Seriously. It was never like this before. This was never a place where we had to debate objective facts,

      You must be new here.

      and not a place where reality was subject to political opinion.

      You must be new here.

      It is bots? Is it trolls?

      You really must be new here.

      Slashdot has always had bots, and trolls, and trollbots, longer than I've had an account. And this is not even my first account, I lost the details of the first one, which had a five digit UID.

      Some people have always argued against the facts, and promoted their own alternative facts. Some people have always ignored the facts, and the way they torpedo their own arguments over different and less relevant facts. And so shall it ever be, beca

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Jahoda ( 2715225 )
        You must be new here.

        As charming as your condescension is, I have been a _daily_ reader since 2001. I just never wanted to post, hence the UID. Frankly, if you think /. was always like this, I think it's *you* who is new here.

        • Frankly, if you think /. was always like this, I think it's *you* who is new here.

          It had more good posts, but it always had tons of garbage posts. Believing otherwise is pure nostalgia.

      • I'd rather look at goats than Russian bots.

    • Seriously. It was never like this before.

      It's been like this the entire time you have been registered.

      This was never a place where we had to debate objective facts, and not a place where reality was subject to political opinion.

      Have you even read slashdot in the last two years?

      It is bots? Is it trolls?

      In this case it's Russian hackers.

      Is it that the demographics of the technology, engineering,and scientifically inclined have changed so much?

      No, the demographic of Slashdot has changed from people who embrace the findings of experts to those who question and flat out deny them.

      I'm rarely one to defend Microsoft what basis do you have to question Microsoft's findings? Microsoft's driver has always been money, so what's their angle in lying here?

      • I'm rarely one to defend Microsoft what basis do you have to question Microsoft's findings? Microsoft's driver has always been money, so what's their angle in lying here?

        They can get gubmint contracts by agreeing to blame things on the big bad scary Russians. It's not even likely that they are outright lying so much as not engaging in proper diligence and verification. Basically, MS would find a Russian IP or a Cyrillic character in a log, say "OMG TEH RUSSIANS," and call it a day.

    • We have arrived at a point where the consensual norm of what is reality is shifting. That view has been subject to upheavals and revolutions since the dawn of humanity and now it's happening again. The process creates great friction in individual and collective minds and this time around it visibly manifests as obsession with Trump and anti-Trump.

      I see it as a good thing though. It's part of the evolution of our collective views. We've apparently hit a wall with our previous collective view of reality and a

    • How is the general public expected to judge facts related to international intelligence operations?

      There is only who you trust. It is a logic-free zone.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AHuxley ( 892839 )
      With the lack of a Smith–Mundt Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]–Mundt_Act the US is now getting more political cyber news.

  • Ah (Score:3, Interesting)

    by cascadingstylesheet ( 140919 ) on Tuesday August 21, 2018 @09:59AM (#57166900) Journal

    I'm not sure this overall narrative actually says what you want it to say.

    "Russians swayed dumb mouth breathing voters with crazy fake news"

    Okay ... we've had a pretty evenly split national electorate for quite awhile now ... so if Russia managed (through the most incredible small investment in political history, btw) to sway enough idiot stupid dumb (did I stick closely enough to the narrative there?) people to sway the presidential election ... then which side did those moronic people come from?

    (Spoiler / hint: not the side that won ... outside influence would need to peel votes from the other side ...)

    "How dare you steal our dumb voters" might not be the best slogan for ya.

    • Your argument assumes 100% turnout in past elections. In 2016 there was a relative increase in voter turnout in specific low education groups. Specifically there was an increase in high school and bellow educated turnout in rural communities.

      What the Russians were able to do is increase voter turnout among very very uneducated rural voters by spending little cash. The reason why they were able to do it with little cash is that they were able to run politically toxic ads without any blowback to the R part

      • Re:Ah (Score:4, Funny)

        by cascadingstylesheet ( 140919 ) on Tuesday August 21, 2018 @10:37AM (#57167172) Journal

        Your argument assumes 100% turnout in past elections. In 2016 there was a relative increase in voter turnout in specific low education groups. Specifically there was an increase in high school and bellow educated turnout in rural communities.

        So, parallel to the core Democrat low education inner city vote?

        What the Russians were able to do is increase voter turnout among very very uneducated rural voters by spending little cash.

        Interesting. So Jethro browsed these ads on his moonshine still, I guess? (I'm assuming not over broadband on his Mac)

        And you're going to win them over now by ... calling them stupid?

        The reason why they were able to do it with little cash is that they were able to run politically toxic ads without any blowback to the R party due to the arms length lack of association with the direct R party.

        Then I suggest you hire those Russians. They are the most amazing political operatives evah.

        • Re: (Score:2, Troll)

          by plague911 ( 1292006 )

          "So, parallel to the core Democrat low education inner city vote?"

          Yes low education Democratic voter participation was down proportionally partialy thanks to R voter suppression efforts.

          "And you're going to win them over now by ... calling them stupid?" 1) I don't care about winning over "them" 2) I didn't call them stupid, you just did. 3) Statistics don't lie, a dramatic increase in turnout in very low education rural communities was a core component of the Rs victory.

          "Then I suggest you hire those Ru

    • then which side did those moronic people come from?

      It's not so much that their coming from a side, but more that it's using fear mongering to get them to vote when they wouldn't have otherwise. It's also not so much that they're moronic as it is how skeptical they are. If these people are being bombarded with ads on every page they visit on the internet with demonstrable FUD, it might even get non-moronic people to mis-prioritize what's really important. Garbage in, garbage out.

  • Putin is not partisan (Score:4, Informative)

    by mi ( 197448 ) <slashdot-2017q4@virtual-estates.net> on Tuesday August 21, 2018 @10:11AM (#57166994) Homepage Journal

    Unlike that of the USSR, who only supported foreign Leftists [aim.org], Putin's Russia is non-partisan, looking for support and influence wherever they can find it. In Germany, for example, thay happen to be particularly successful among the Left [dw.com] (no doubt with the aid of the old Stasi files). In France they supported the supposed rightists [euobserver.com].

    Western societies aren't immune to corruption — if the price is right — and for years Putin could afford bribes on the scale of millions.

    Likewise, their targeting computers of all political parties is not at all surprising. That the GOP runs a tighter ship [cnbc.com] is not surprising either...

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by fazig ( 2909523 )
      Agreed, Putin is on his own side. I think it was his own statements that his ties to certain political parties are or a pragmatic nature.
      If you look at the current situation in Germany though, Putin is successful with everyone that is 'far' on the spectrum. Don't forget that the article you linked also mentions the AfD. Their policies differ in many key aspects of economic and social issues, but what unites them is their disdain of the US, the EU, and Israel.
      The Centrists (CDU and FDP leaning to the right
  • Putin needs to be banned from all financial markets. His accounts emptied. His assets seized and sold off. Cyrus needs to be crushed, and their banks ended.
  • Yup, sounds aboot right.
  • So here's the thing, I will believe that this was a real problem or caused any change in the vote if you can find me a single conservative that ever, in a million years, even considered voting for Hillary Clinton. Were their propaganda campaigns? Sure ... Did they sway voters that were rabid about Hilary to vote for Trump or vice versa, not a chance. They didn't even sway me, in the middle from voting for a third party candidate, which was my intention all along. The crowds voting for these people are so id

  • You don't need to worry about Russian's interfering with the mid-term elections, Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, and Instagram are all doing that domestically themselves by continuing to censor Republican candidates.

  • ... Microsoft is watching over our every keystroke so intently.

    The day will come when you screw up a web site password and a little voice will come over your PC speaker, "That's your luggage combination."

  • Microsoft support calling because they have detected a problem with your computer is legendary for criminals. So if Microsoft called me up at a conservative think (or any place else) tank, I'd be like - sure you are... I'm sure you work for Microsoft. Click.

    Besides, I thought the Russians were somehow against the Democrats, even though they're in bed together.

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