Dutch intelligence first to alert U.S. about Russian hack of Democratic Party
nos.nl
nos.nl
Read this article; an in depth analasys directly from source.: https://www.volkskrant.nl/media/dutch-agencies-provide-cruci...
Seriously, everyone here will find this a fascinating read. It's almost like a thriller.
From the article:
Using so-called command and control servers, digital command centres, the Russians attempt to establish a connection to the malware in the Department, in order to request and transfer information. The Americans, having been told by the Dutch where the servers are, repeatedly and swiftly cut off access to these servers, followed each time by another attempt by the Russians. It goes back and forth like this for 24 hours. Afterwards, sources tell CNN that this was 'the worst hack attack ever' on the American government. The Department has to cut off access to the e-mail system for a whole weekend in order to upgrade the security.
Luckily, the NSA was able to find out the means and tactics of their attackers, deputy director of the NSA Richard Ledgett states at a discussion forum in Aspen in March 2017. 'So we could see how they were changing their methods. That's very useful information.' On the authority of intelligence services, American media write that this was thanks to a 'western ally'. Eventually, the Americans manage to dispel the Russians from the Department, but not before Russian attackers use their access to send an e-mail to a person in the White House.
This shows I was wrong, they seem to be actually competent and doing good work. Maybe I'll even rethink my opinion on the dragnet surveillance law that we will be voting on...
That should not change your opinion on the dragnet surveillance though, especially because that will simply increase the size of the haystack with the same number of needles and so will take attention away from things that urgently require it. Dragnet surveillance is a net negative when you are resource constrained.
Another Dutch official entity that has my admiration is the anti-child porn division, they are quite capable and deal with some of the worst stuff the internet has to offer.
It's about what you'd expect if you ask a group of cryptographers to come up with crossword-style puzzles. It's all very challenging.
I wouldn't be surprised if the upcoming referendum on that dragnet law has something to do with this news coming out now.
The visible part of these organizations (head, management and recommendations) are pitiful or plain outrageous (recommendations are usually years behind the reality, which contrasts with recent NIST posture).
At the same time, the regular folks are usually surprisingly good, open and forward - thinking. They either work in the dark or have propositions which never reach the top.
When I say "surprisingly", it is because that are statistically better than their counterparts in the private sector, and are payed way less.
If this kind of thing is interesting, I’d recommend a read of Kim Zetters “countdown to zero day” about stuxnet. A piece of malware potentially as old as 2005, but an order of magnitude more sophisticated than what’s being described with the DNC
Is he just lying in the worst attempt to cover ass, or is he actually just that bad at his job?
Secondly is how important our allies are in this new era of clandestine cyber-warfare. Who knows how much damage that attack could've done without AIVD's assistance.
Third is that allied intelligence agencies are probably playing a significant role in unraveling the Trump/Russia scandal. Maybe a lot of the intel won't be declassified for some time, but I have to think that the Special Counsel has received tips from our NATO and FVEY partners that will help them crack the case.
I think the political instability of the US will create strategic opportunities for other nations like China to fill, not to mention that it will reduce America's persuasiveness on all sorts of global matters.
Trust is an enormously valuable thing that is often undervalued until it is gone. Unfortunately I think the loss of trust others have in the United States (which didn't start with Trump) is going to create major difficulties for some time to come.
I do however think that once this situation is put to rest, our strongest alliances will hold, and hopefully we can start behaving like a trusted partner again.
Even if they pretend they aren't.
I mean, come on man. Play the chess game out just two moves. Look at East Africa, for Christ's sake. They are being courted by the Chinese something fierce. And Donny just gives any anti-US factions a golden goose of political talking points. Now what are the in-power/pro-US factions supposed to do? The hamstringing of our allies is plain stupid.
"AIVD director Bertholee stated that he is extra careful when it comes to sharing intelligence with the U.S., now that Donald Trump is President."
The mere fact that Trump is president is harming US security. And the head of Dutch intelligence is willing to say so publicly. That is pretty striking.
If this is really true:
As of now, the AIVD hackers do not seem to have access to Cozy Bear any longer. Sources suggest that the openness of US intelligence sources, who in 2017 praised the help of a Western ally in news stories, may have ruined their operation. The openness caused great anger in The Hague and Zoetermeer.
That'd quite a catastrophic/dumb mistake.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump...
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-missiles-subma...
Stormy Daniels had leverage on Trump, but didn't really seem to do much with it; she was fine with a payout. What would happen, on the other hand, if a hostile intelligence agency got some more salacious or more incriminating (money laundering, say) leverage on him?
The Dutch led the investigation into the MH17 shoot-down, and Russian misinformation groups (of which Cozy Bear was one) have been working hard on that, too.
As I can remember US told the world that it MH-17 was shot by a missile (not Ukrainian jet, as Russia tried to imply for months) and most probably Russian missile - and all of it almost immediately after the tragedy.
Together with another group of Russian hackers (Fancy Bear, also known as APT28), Cozy Bear is also held responsible for the cyberintrusion of the DNC. In April 2016, Fancy Bear accessed the Washington servers of the Democrats; Cozy Bear had done so as early as the summer of 2015. Once more, the group was caught red-handed by the Dutch, who again alerted their U.S. counterparts.
If the CIA and NSA were aware of this going on, unless they are outright incompetent and Obama didn't care then they must have known all along that they were being broken into.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell informed Obama that if he did carry out the alert that he would cry partisan politics and interference in the election by the sitting administration.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/biden-mcconnell-wanted-no-part-...
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/12/why-d...
You can imagine the uproar that would follow.
Shortly after the election the US expelled 35 diplomats and shuttered a Russian-owned compound.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/dec/29/barack-obama...
That, and the FBI had started an investigation into the interference (which is often decried as a hoax or other silly terms). The CIA and NSA had been working on it for some time, however if you read the article, the Russian actors had already penetrated other state services and were moving moving quickly. It was a cat and mouse game at that point.
Members of the senate signed a letter noting that they were aware of Russia's interference and called for them to stop when the president couldn't speak publicly about it.
I'm curious about what other acts you suggest he could have pursued.
Or I'm guessing there were multiple hacks?