The Russian Hackers

[Sunstone]

I was listening to Mitt Romney the other day. He's on the Senate Homeland Security Committee, and he was in essence saying that -- were we to get into a war with Russia at this moment -- our commanders might find themselves unable to communicate with their troops, our power grids might go down, our computer systems could crash, and many, many other possible consequences of the hacking.

Has anyone been following the story?

 

[Eyes to See]

The video unfortunately did not have this info you were referring to. Was curious if you have a link?

 

[Evangelicalhumanist]

I was listening to Mitt Romney the other day. He's on the Senate Homeland Security Committee, and he was in essence saying that -- were we to get into a war with Russia at this moment -- our commanders might find themselves unable to communicate with their troops, our power grids might go down, our computer systems could crash, and many, many other possible consequences of the hacking.

Has anyone been following the story?

It appears to have been going on long enough that it may be very, very difficult to know just how much real intelligence has been gathered. And yes, the threats that you mention seem, therefore, to be at least a significant risk.

This seems to me to be huge -- but I don't think that anybody really has any real grasp of just how huge.

There can no longer be any doubt, however, given that Trump is STILL trying to turn attention away from Russia and Putin, that he has some sort of affection -- however it came about -- for that regime.

The next question then becomes, do his efforts to turn attention away from the enemy amount to giving aid and comfort to said enemy? That seems worth considering, doesn't it?

 

[Sunstone]

The video unfortunately did not have this info you were referring to. Was curious if you have a link?

I saw the video a few days ago but regrettably forgot to bookmark it. At any rate, I'm not really interested in discussing that particular video so much as the news -- which is all over the media these days -- of the Russian hacking. Plenty of sources, if you're interested.

 

[Sunstone]

The next question then becomes, do his efforts to turn attention away from the enemy amount to giving aid and comfort to said enemy? That seems worth considering, doesn't it?

I think that once he's out of office, his relationship to Russia and his behavior in regard to Russian acts and provocations should be thoroughly investigated until everything that can be known about those things is known. Whether to pursue trial for treason is something I believe we should wait to decide when the evidence is in. I'm pretty sure you would agree with me.

 

[Tumah]

It's not just Russia. All countries with major actors on the international stage are potentially capable of doing something like this. Just under 2 years ago, the Iranian hacker group Elfin (APT33) was found to be using a technique called password spraying to gain access to US utilities (power, gas) accounts. The Chinese hacker group MenuPass (APT10) regularly performs cyberespionage on behalf of China including records of 130k Navy personnel.

And that's just a small sampling of the attacks carried out in the past few years. All of these countries are supporting a number of APTs, with China perhaps in the lead for quantity.

This is the state of war today. Cyberespionage, exploitation of infrastructure services. That's obvious. Cyberwar is the new front line and that's been true for years.

The answer is greater investment in cyber defense by the US government and army. There is no other way. There just isn't anymore.

 

[Watchmen]

“Might” is a pretty remarkable word.

 

[Sunstone]

“Might” is a pretty remarkable word.

I was wondering when the pettifogging would begin. Now I know.

 

[stvdv]

I was listening to Mitt Romney the other day. He's on the Senate Homeland Security Committee, and he was in essence saying that -- were we to get into a war with Russia at this moment -- our commanders might find themselves unable to communicate with their troops, our power grids might go down, our computer systems could crash, and many, many other possible consequences of the hacking.

I believe this is just another conspiracy theory ... USA vs Russia, has been going on for ages. Russia is not any better/worse than USA IMO.

 

[Watchmen]

I was wondering when the pettifogging would begin. Now I know.

Whatever. Seems the whole world is caught up in fear mongering. It’s tiresome. And boring.

 

[ChristineM]

I think all major players including America are not innocent in hacking. It will be a huge part of any war to help disable the opposition.

Cyber security needs to be one of any governments priorities.

 

[Sunstone]

“Might” is a pretty remarkable word.

For something to be mere fear-mongering, it must be without substance or nearly so, wouldn't you agree?

 

[Sunstone]

I believe this is just another conspiracy theory ... USA vs Russia, has been going on for ages. Russia is not any better/worse than USA IMO.

What's your reasoning for dismissing the claims of nearly every reputable American official in a position to know what's going on saying virtually the same thing: The Russians hacked us, and the damage is huge.

 

[stvdv]

What's your reasoning for dismissing the claims of nearly every reputable American official in a position to know what's going on saying virtually the same thing: The Russians hacked us, and the damage is huge.

Humans are humans whether Russian or American, so I don't believe that it's ONLY Russians doing bad things
IF Russians do bad things THEN I believe Americans do it too; one is not better than the other

And the Dutch might not be as bad as both Russians+Americans, but get very close

 

[Sunstone]

Humans are humans whether Russian or American, so I don't believe that it's ONLY Russians doing bad things
IF Russians do bad things THEN I believe Americans do it too; one is not better than the other

And the Dutch might not be as bad as both Russians+Americans, but get very close

Huh? What's the fact the US does the same have to do with the OP? Are you trying to go all righteous and moral on me? If so, you're off topic. Start your own thread. Morality has nothing to do with this. This is not about who is right and who is wrong.

 

[Revoltingest]

“Might” is a pretty remarkable word.

Aye, cyber-warfare is something that we, the masses, cannot
observe in any way. We rely upon front line personnel, whose
reports are filtered thru government, & whose info is filtered once
again thru news media. We might think we know what happened.
But is it even clear that the front line types know who did it?
Is government honest with us? There "might" be consequences.

So I watch with interest, but I'm not clutching my bug-out bag.
(I don't even have one.)

 

[stvdv]

Huh? What's the fact the US does the same have to do with the OP? Are you trying to go all righteous and moral on me? If so, you're off topic. Start your own thread. Morality has nothing to do with this. This is not about who is right and who is wrong.

Thank you for sharing your opinion (I just shared my opinion; should be possible in a debate forum, I thought)

IMO:
Morality has everything to do with it. IF all behave moral THEN none will hack. IF all behave immoral THEN things can go down in Russia + USA

 

[Father Heathen]

Whatever. Seems the whole world is caught up in fear mongering. It’s tiresome. And boring.

 

[exchemist]

It appears to have been going on long enough that it may be very, very difficult to know just how much real intelligence has been gathered. And yes, the threats that you mention seem, therefore, to be at least a significant risk.

This seems to me to be huge -- but I don't think that anybody really has any real grasp of just how huge.

There can no longer be any doubt, however, given that Trump is STILL trying to turn attention away from Russia and Putin, that he has some sort of affection -- however it came about -- for that regime.

The next question then becomes, do his efforts to turn attention away from the enemy amount to giving aid and comfort to said enemy? That seems worth considering, doesn't it?

Yes, I must say I still wonder about that Steele kompromat dossier: the tarts peeing on that bed - that Obama just happened to have once slept in. It is remarkable how Trump tries to steer everything away from Russia all the time.

 

[Revoltingest]

This is so much more productive....