Go deeper: How the Russian election hacking operation worked

[Rhiannon12866]

We knew that Russians previously targeted more than 20 states' voter registration databases, and likely targeted all 50. Now we know the complexity behind how 12 Russian military officers interfered in the U.S. elections thanks to a federal grand jury indictment released Friday.

The big picture: The information in this indictment will be vastly important for those trying to bolster election security and monitoring, and learning what to train for in basic cyber hygiene practices — which is especially important since we know Russia is likely to try interfering again.

By the numbers

The Russian military intelligence officers targeted over 300 people associated with the DCCC, DNC, and Hillary Clinton's campaign, monitored dozens of DCCC and DNC employees, and implanted hundreds of files with malware to steal emails and other documents.

In 2015 the Russians collected emails from individuals affiliated with the Republican Party in other spearphishing operations.

Starting in June 2016, they eventually disseminated over 50,000 documents using fake online personas, including DCLeaks and Guccifer 2.0, and through a web site, likely WikiLeaks. They worked through November 2016.

11 Russian military intelligence officers are charged with conspiracy to commit computer crimes, 8 counts of aggravated identity theft, conspiracy to launder money, and 2 are charged with separate conspiracy to commit computer crimes.


Much more: https://www.axios.com/the-details-on-how-the-russian-election-hacking-operation-1531524151-65e6fab7-e61e-43c7-93e4-42361590c4b1.html

[underpants]

1. 👀

markibg to read when I get home.

[Rhiannon12866]

2. Thanks for the kick! This looked to me like a detailed analysis.

[Sherman A1]

3. Appreciate your posting this piece

I had a conversation with my Conservative Mother In Law prior to the election of 2016 about this topic and she didn't seemed worried until I stated, "Do you really believe that our or any county's Board of Election computer system could stand up to what the Russians could do in a determined attack?" She didn't respond by at that point her face turned a bit gray.

I have no doubt that the 2016 election was hacked in a variety of forms from voter suppression, fake news by internet bots, dark money and likely vote flipping in a few key areas. As to what we do about it, I have no real idea, but hope some plan is developed.

[Rhiannon12866]

9. I have no idea what to do about this either, but it helps to acknowledge and understand it

I never doubted that something underhanded went on, it makes no sense otherwise - and we knew that they've tried to interfere with governments in Europe, that the efforts are to destabilize governments on both continents. I thought this article gave a clear analysis so I thought it was worth passing along. This needs to be widely publicized, whether people will believe it is another question. And this makes it essential that we get out the vote.

[Starfury]

4. In this day and age, computer security is critical.

People really need to be careful online, be aware of what they're doing, and practice good security habits. Sounds like a lot of campaign and election officials and workers didn't do that. That let the russians access their accounts and systems, which in turn allowed them to hack the election.

On the other hand, it also appears that the russians left more of a trail than they'd probably realized, which doesn't bode well for trump & Co.

[tomp]

5. as I understand it, they hacked the vote machine companies as well.

that is truly horrifying--one short step away from the machines themselves. For true security we must assume the machines are compromised.

[Botany]

8. It was massive

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-06-13/russian-breach-of-39-states-threatens-future-u-s-elections

[Lonestarblue]

10. Voting machine companies may not be clean either.

According to my online research, three major companies dominate electronic voting machine sales in the U.S. By market share, they are Election Systems & Software (majority of states use these machines. ES&S is based in Omaha, Nebraska and owns the former Diebold company. The second biggest supplier is Dominion Voting Systems of Toronto, Canada, and the third is HartInter Civic, based in Austin, Texas. Others mentioned but with small market shares include Five Cedars Group and Unisyn Voting Systems.

The questionable company seems to be ES&S, at least in some past elections. ES&S is owned by private equity firm McCarthy Capital. Some of the controversies that have surfaced with electronic voting systems include situations such as the 2008 and 2010 elections where voters in Michigan and Ohio had their votes changed by machines or the machines accepted the ballots but did not count them. Hearings were held in Ohio about decertifying the machines, but Republican Secretary of State Ken Blackwell certified them anyway. Part of the history of ES&S goes back several years to Diebold. Walden O’Dell, CEO of Diebold, was a major Republican donor. At a meeting in Ohio in 2003, he stated that Diebold would deliver Ohio’s electoral college votes to Bush in his re-election. They delivered, but there were so many irregurlaries that the federal government launched an investigation. The Diebold machines were designed to leave no paper trail of votes, so they could be easily manipulated. Finally in 2013, the federal government indicted Diebold for worldwide criminal conduct and they paid a fine of $50 million. Who knows how much of the Diebold political alliance with the Republican Party is now part of ES&S, but my bet would be that the partners and the high net worth individuals who invest with McCarthy Capital are heavy donors to the Republican Party.

[lpbk2713]

11. Thanks for this post.

I always knew Diebold was dirty but I had no idea how widespread the corruption was.

[VOX]

6. Thanks for this.

If I ever thought, "I probably know enough about this by now," I'd be disappointed in myself.

One cannot be too informed!

[Rhiannon12866]

12. Thanks!

That's why I thought it was worth posting, it gave a through explanation and details which need to be publicized.

[oasis]

7. Mueller's got the goods. Our guys persisted. nt