DNC Staffer got pop-up messages alerting of “state-sponsored actors”

arstechnica.com

10 points·Shank··3 comments

Putting aside the politics of the situation, how exactly does the DNC continue to get hammered by apparently-malicious actors without making major changes to their information security practices? My understanding is that the hacks are on-going and persistent - after several weeks of this being in the news, and possibly being aware of it for months, why haven't they been able to harden their systems enough to repel at least a few of these attacks?

Or am I completely misinterpreting the news reports I keep hearing from the NY Times, ArsTechnica, etc.?

It's most likely that people with authority in the organization refuse to acknowledge the scope of the problem. People get upset about having to reset passwords, so imagine how they feel about being told to reformat or get entirely new machines. And frankly, those may not be viable options, because a competent and well-backed adversary will probably find their way in, even if you set them back at the starting line.

how exactly does the DNC continue to get hammered by apparently-malicious actors without making major changes to their information security practices?

In the greater scheme of things, the DNC doesn't matter; nobody gives a fuck that the entire US government infrastructure is being hacked over and over. Figure out why that keeps happening and you will have the answer to your DNC question. Same attitude at work.

How the U.S. thinks Russians hacked the White House http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/07/politics/how-russians-hacked-t...

Sources: State Dept. hack the 'worst ever' http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/10/politics/state-department-hack...

OPM government data breach impacted 21.5 million http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/09/politics/office-of-personnel-m...

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