Japanese Anti-Virus Firm Allege Russia Linked Hackers Targeted Macron Campaign
17 replies, posted
[quote]Researchers with the Japanese anti-virus firm Trend Micro say the campaign of French presidential front-runner Emmanuel Macron has been targeted by Russia-linked hackers, adding more details to previous suggestions that the centrist politician was being singled out for electronic eavesdropping by the Kremlin.
The campaign's digital chief, Mounir Mahjoubi, confirmed the attempted intrusions in a telephone interview late Monday but said they had all been thwarted.
"It's serious, but nothing was compromised," he said.
Trend Micro said it discovered the campaign by monitoring the creation of rogue, lookalike websites often used by hackers to trick victims into giving up their passwords. The Tokyo-based firm recently detected four Macron-themed fake domains being set up on digital infrastructure used by a group it calls Pawn Storm, according to Trend Micro researcher Feike Hacquebord.
Mahjoubi confirmed that at least one of the sites had recently been used as part of an attempt to steal campaign staffers' online credentials.
Unmasking which group is behind this or that spying campaign is one of the most challenging aspects of cybersecurity, but Hacquebord said he was confident Trend Micro had gotten it right.
"This is not a 100 percent confirmation, but it's very, very likely," Hacquebord said, adding the political nature of the targeting was "really in line with what they've been doing in the last two years."
Trend Micro has stopped short of accusing any country of pulling Pawn Storm's strings, but American spy agencies and a variety of threat intelligence firms say that Pawn Storm, an extraordinarily prolific group also known as Fancy Bear or APT28, of being an arm of Russia's intelligence apparatus.[/quote]
[url=https://www.apnews.com/a322f3d82e3742ad86575a01b8a38ab6/Researchers:-Russia-linked-hackers-targeted-Macron-campaign]AP[/url]
This is apparently now two election campaigns in two countries targeted by the Russians, with the non-targeted candidate being pro-Russian.
Hmm... :thinking:
[QUOTE=BlackMageMari;52148112]This is apparently now two election campaigns in two countries targeted by the Russians, with the non-targeted candidate being pro-Russian.
Hmm... :thinking:[/QUOTE]
The question is, how long and where has this been happening? We've only really been paying attention since the US election.
[QUOTE=elfbarf;52148165]The question is, how long and where has this been happening? We've only really been paying attention since the US election.[/QUOTE]
I'm going to bet since Crimea, which made everything between Russia and the West extremely awkward again.
[QUOTE=Marbalo;52148267]It was never [I]not [/I]awkward.[/QUOTE]
You can certainly say it was much, much less tense between the later 90s and the end of the 00s however.
Honestly I blame that Putin chap - he's an arsehole.
[QUOTE=elfbarf;52148165]The question is, how long and where has this been happening? We've only really been paying attention since the US election.[/QUOTE]
[URL="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/democracy-post/wp/2017/04/05/if-you-want-to-see-russian-information-warfare-at-its-worst-visit-these-countries/"]they've likely been sandboxing it for a while in former USSR states, like Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania[/URL]
[QUOTE=BlackMageMari;52148112]This is apparently now two election campaigns in two countries targeted by the Russians, with the non-targeted candidate being pro-Russian.
Hmm... :thinking:[/QUOTE]
Two? I count way more.
I fail to see how you guys don't see this in certain political figures. One of our Deputy PMs and the then-president of the biggest right wing party turned out to be a Russian pawn working to undermine national interests for huge monetary bribes via Hungarian proxies. Naturally, as a retribution, the judicial system destroyed his career, the government collapsed, and the whole country hates his guts.
Of course, the party had a major reform and they managed to strike out a coalition in the 2016 elections, but only because they let an actual experienced Euro-centric bureaucrat take over. Before that the cronies in the core national level party were reeking of Russian influence.
[QUOTE=BlackMageMari;52148112]This is apparently now two election campaigns in two countries targeted by the Russians, with the non-targeted candidate being pro-Russian.
Hmm... :thinking:[/QUOTE]
Because it's both a possibility and a very convinient reason to explain the lost elections, if that happens.
[QUOTE=DoktorAkcel;52148736]Because it's both a possibility and a very convinient reason to explain the lost elections, if that happens.[/QUOTE]
But this was found by a Japanese company. Why would a third party try and verify this if it doesn't affect them?
[QUOTE=BlackMageMari;52148855]But this was found by a Japanese company. Why would a third party try and verify this if it doesn't affect them?[/QUOTE]
Because no country is an island, immune to global politics. If Russia successfully flips the West, how long do you think will be before China starts looking at Japan as Eastern China, waiting for a flag to be planted?
[QUOTE=DoktorAkcel;52148736]Because it's both a possibility and a very convinient reason to explain the lost elections, if that happens.[/QUOTE]
Hmm, a conspiracy to frame Russia (because they're such darling, innocent sweethearts when it comes to interfering with the politics of nations) or the likelihood that Russia is actually up to these crimes (See: Their more brazen interference in their local neighbourhood), especially as the politicians they happen to be propping up (with these alleged crimes) are all pro-Russian to a startling degree (To the extent that FN politicos actually visited Moscow in the run up to the election).
Denmark
Montenegro
Serbia
France
Bulgaria
USA
Ukraine
All countries that have had Russia meddle in their elections and politics in recent years.
[QUOTE=Stopper;52153002]Denmark
Montenegro
Serbia
France
Bulgaria
USA
Ukraine
All countries that have had Russia meddle in their elections and politics in recent years.[/QUOTE]
This.
As has been pointed out before, this is how the Russians do things now. Except for your odd backwater country that can't defend itself (and which is therefore vulnerable to them to militarily bully, like Georgia or the Ukraine since the latter gave up their nuclear stockpiles), they don't bother with direct military ventures anymore. That's not how wars are waged now between civilized, important powers. Infiltration, assassination, terrorism, propaganda and misinformation campaigns, etc. are the primary methods. Internal disruption and destruction. Putin himself as a former lieutenant-colonel in the KGB who spent years monitoring and manipulating foreigners in East Germany understands this better than most.
For that matter, the Soviets were doing the exact same thing to the United States and other Western countries during the Cold War. They infiltrated and extracted information concerning everything from atomic and military secrets to the functioning of our departments of state.
There really shouldn't by any doubt at this point that these people and their government are our mortal enemies. The Cold War never really ended. The isms and faces of government for them changed, but you can't take a rivalry that lasted that many decades and expect everything to suddenly be peachy between us. Reality and human relations don't work like that.
[QUOTE]For that matter, the Soviets were doing the exact same thing to the United States and other Western countries during the Cold War. They infiltrated and extracted information concerning everything from atomic and military secrets to the functioning of our departments of state.[/QUOTE]
Some say subversion[video=youtube;5It1zarINv0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5It1zarINv0[/video].
You could say the social justice left is a result of Soviet Russia meddling in American Culture.
Russians Russians Russians everywhere!
The west needs to collectively get it's shit together and [i]do something[/i] about Russia.
[editline]27th April 2017[/editline]
Imagine waking Ronald Reagan up from the dead only to tell him that the Russians are winning the Cold War
[QUOTE=proboardslol;52156454]The west needs to collectively get it's shit together and [i]do something[/i] about Russia.
[editline]27th April 2017[/editline]
Imagine waking Ronald Reagan up from the dead only to tell him that the Russians are winning the Cold War[/QUOTE]
That's because the Russian government never believed for a moment that it had ended, and just kept on keeping on, whilst the West decided that it was over with the fall of the Soviet Union.
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