Russian Info, Cyber and Disinformation (July 2017 to end '17)

**OUTLAW 09** · 07-06-2017

An interesting comment from another growing authoritarian leader....

Erdogan to Die Zeit: ``I don't believe there is such a thing as `independent media' anywhere in the world.''
http://www.zeit.de/politik/ausland/2...rview-english#

Might in fact be correct if one views any MSM to be Corporate owned and thus answering to the 90 day profit cycles and how much money they are making vs. say social media journalism that does not have such limitations...and has the speed factor and does not answer to a corporate owner....

**OUTLAW 09** · 07-06-2017

Reference Russian hack of Ukraine.....

New: the hackers linked to #NotPetya ransomware decrypted a file for us, proving they can unlock at least some files
https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/a...-decrypt-file#

BUT still largely unable to decrypt all files that it encrypted....

They still sidestep why they wiped the MBF on a large number of computers which is viewed as a destructive attack and why they are saying they will return all ransom payments when they did not make much to begin with....

IMHO they are trying to act like an beginner hack not a state sponsored attack....KEY the deliberate MBF wipe and the use of LSADump to record passwords and domain servers...and then the exfil of that data...for future hacking use.....NOR using a backdoor installed on a key updated software product.....

**OUTLAW 09** · 07-06-2017

Russian FM is apparently in "an altered info warfare state of reality" on their bombing of Aleppo......

MFA Russia #
Verified account
#@mfa_russia 5m

#Zakharova: We have requested that @CNN accurately cover the case of Syrian boy Omran Daqneesh

Zakharova: The lack of a clear response from @CNN makes us think that CNN journalists consciously distorted the facts

#Zakharova: We still expect @CNN to openly admit its mistake and prepare a retraction

CNN...we stand by the report and request Russian FM to prove they did not drop the bombs on his home even with existing video footage of Russian aircraft flying overhead at the time of the bombing and no other AF in the area other than RUAF.....on that particular day RUAF flew five strike missions over Aleppo....

**OUTLAW 09** · 07-06-2017

Not relevant to thread, refer to non-Russian matters and as per notice elsewhere removed.

**OUTLAW 09** · 07-06-2017

Deleted

**OUTLAW 09** · 07-06-2017

This thread title is as follows....

Russian Info, Cyber and Disinformation

To ignore and delete information that indicates that a large number of Americans are actively working in that Russian effort for whatever reasons and then push that Russian info warfare, cyber and disinformation on to other Americans in order to influence their decisions and actions using all forms of media is an interesting development....even for SWJ.

BTW...info posted here was provided to Twitter Support which has since deleted specific accounts that were proven to have been Russian even though they claimed to be US accounts....and were using perfect US English....

**OUTLAW 09** · 07-07-2017

Media report that #Russia has ~150 intelligence operatives deployed in the US:
http://edition.cnn.com/2017/07/06/po...on0610PMStory#

Alleged largest increase in over 20 years.....matches the massive increase in Europe where in Prague you can run into one every mile or so....as Prague has become the central Russian spy capital....

**OUTLAW 09** · 07-07-2017

Originally Posted by OUTLAW 09

I am getting tired of reposting this critical article done by one of the best Russian researchers....

Crimintern: How the Kremlin uses Russia’s criminal networks in Europe

By Mark Galeotti
18th April, 2017
http://www.ecfr.eu/publications/summ...orks_in_europe

AND the US Russian crime gang connections just keep on keeping on....

Russia-born dealmaker linked to Trump assists FBI money laundering probe
https://www.ft.com/content/159eb2d8-...-0ac7eb84e5f1#

BTW in the last year FT has done some really good investigative journalism on this topic...sad is that a lot of it is behind a paywall....

**OUTLAW 09** · 07-07-2017

Someone's phishing US nuke power stations. So far, no boom.....

German Federal Security Services are taking this as a serious Russian APT28 warning to the West after their four attacks on the Baltics and Ukraine power grids....they see it as a not so subtle form of escalation....

BTW...the recent again from Russia malware hacking attack against Ukraine focused on power plants, power grid, fuel (gas) stations, and water/natural gas supply infrastructure and anything that basically used a computer...

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/0...=1499413546138

Also from NYTs....
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/06/t...ck-report.html

Don't panic, but attackers are trying to phish their way into machines in various US power facilities, including nuclear power station operators.
It seems so far whoever behind the campaign has tried phishing and watering-hole attacks, but haven't got beyond corporate networks (which in critical infrastructure should be on separate networks from the operational systems).
The New York Times got wind of the intrusion attempts, getting a look at a joint Department of Homeland Security/FBI report.
The money quote from the story appears to be this:
There is no indication that hackers were able to jump from their victims’ computers into the control systems of the facilities, nor is it clear how many facilities were breached.
Spokespeople for one of the targets, the Wolf Creek Nuclear Operating Corporation (in charge of a facility near Burlington in Kansas) said it maintained separate networks for corporate and operations systems, so there was no risk to its power stations.

BTW....what is not being talked about is that in two US nuclear sites the recent malware attack unleashed on Ukraine actually made it into the business computers of the two nuclear power companies....

BUT here is the problem not talked about...the malware contained a LSADump hack tool designed to collect all passwords and domain controllers allowing for later successful hacks unless ALL passwords were immediately changed and ALL domain servers reconfigured....

AND where is again that Trump promised US cyber defense plan he stated would be available in 90 days....nowhere to be seen ...we are now 160 days in and still nothing to be seen AND yet he is worried about alleged voter fraud that happens less than the number of Americans hit yearly by lighting........

**OUTLAW 09** · 07-07-2017

Originally Posted by OUTLAW 09

Someone's phishing US nuke power stations. So far, no boom.....

German Federal Security Services are taking this as a serious Russian APT28 warning to the West after their four attacks on the Baltics and Ukraine power grids....they see it as a not so subtle form of escalation....

BTW...the recent again from Russia malware hacking attack against Ukraine focused on power plants, power grid, fuel (gas) stations, and water/natural gas supply infrastructure and anything that basically used a computer...

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/0...=1499413546138

Also from NYTs....
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/06/t...ck-report.html

BTW....what is not being talked about is that in two US nuclear sites the recent malware attack unleashed on Ukraine actually made it into the business computers of the two nuclear power companies....

BUT here is the problem not talked about...the malware contained a LSADump hack tool designed to collect all passwords and domain controllers allowing for later successful hacks unless ALL passwords were immediately changed and ALL domain servers reconfigured....

AND where is again that Trump promised US cyber defense plan he stated would be available in 90 days....nowhere to be seen ...we are now 160 days in and still nothing to be seen AND yet he is worried about alleged voter fraud that happens less than the number of Americans hit yearly by lighting........

"We don't pay attention to such anonymous fakes,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...-nuclear-site#

Germans are saying Russian state sponsored APT28 or the GRU hacking division...left their digital fingerprints all over this....

**OUTLAW 09** · 07-07-2017

BLUF.....

US tech companies "actively didn't care/want to know" about Russian propaganda or disinformation until 2016 election meddling AND still do not really care as many simply forget they are driven by advertising income and the number of views are what drives them......even if those views are based on fake news, propaganda, disinformation.....via trolling and automated bot nets.....the more the "views" the more the advertising revenue....

AND secondly, in the case of Twitter the largest single shareholder is a Saudi and the largest single investor is a Russian oligarch....at 1.3B USDs....

**OUTLAW 09** · 07-07-2017

When one discusses Russian non linear warfare especially cyber and information warfare coupled with Russian black money softpower....it is good to go back to the basics again with the Russian invasion of Ukraine and their military annexation of Crimea....

It is all intertwined even with the Russian hacking and influence operations during the US 2016 election....

War in Ukraine Was Years in the Making
By Vera Zimmerman
http://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs...bKsPiY.twitter

In a new comprehensive study, “The World Hybrid War: Ukrainian Forefront,” experts from Ukraine’s National Institute for Strategic Studies (NISS) examine the Ukraine-Russia conflict in the context of the global security crisis.

In the monograph, they conceptualize hybrid war, trace its origins, look at the evolution of Russia’s revanchist ambitions, single out Ukraine’s vulnerabilities and its response, and advocate a new strategy. The authors aim to share Ukraine’s experience of hybrid war with Western readers and leave no doubt about the true nature of Russia’s goals.

It is a long read (175 pages) but well worth it as it is a comprehensive analysis done by Ukraine itself...
http://www.niss.gov.ua/public/File/b..._engl_site.pdf

If the posting on the eight phases of Russia non linear warfare had not been deleted then one could see how this long study parallels the Russian non linear warfare doctrine including Russian cyber and information warfare..

SOURCES OF HYBRID WAR
Chapter 1. RUSSIA’S GEOPOLITICAL MESSAGE OF DEFIANCE .................. 13 1.1. Confrontation with the West .................................................. .......... 13 1.2. Victims of Russian hybrid aggression ..............................................20 1.3. Strategic purposes of Russian hybrid aggression against Ukraine .....25
DISTINCTIVE FEATURES OF RUSSIA’S HYBRID WAR AGAINST UKRAINE
Chapter 2. WAR ON HOMELAND FRONTLINES ............................................. 35 2.1. Instruments of political influence .................................................. .. 35 2.2. Media support of hybrid war .................................................. ..........40
Chapter 3. SPECIAL AND DIPLOMATIC OPERATIONS .................................. 45 3.1. Russian secret services activities in Ukraine ..................................... 45 3.2. Diplomatic cover for hybrid aggression ............................................ 52
Chapter 4. ECONOMIC DIMENSION OF HYBRID AGGRESSION .................59 4.1. Trade warfare as an instrument of economic pressure ......................59 4.2. ”Energy weapon” in the context of hybrid war .................................68
HYBRID WAR AND HYBRID WORLD
Chapter 5. WORLD REACTION TO THE RUSSIAN HYBRID WARFARE AGAINST UKRAINE .................................................. ....................... 81 5.1. Role of international security organizations and forums ................... 81 5.2. Economic sanctions policy .................................................. ............88 5.3. Activation of radical and anti-Europe forces in support of Russia ... 100 5.4. Minsk process in the light of world politics .....................................104

**OUTLAW 09** · 07-07-2017

Russian non linear warfare especially on the hacking side has a nasty habit of including "fake documents to spread Doubt and Distrust" on individuals and or organizations hacked by Russian state sponsored groups and then released via Wikileaks....

REMEMBER Russian propaganda works on a concept of the 6Ds....
Distort....Distract.....Dismiss....Deflect ALL designed to create Doubt and Distrust....

They did this in the DNC hack, the Podesta hack, and the French President Marcon hack....and now WHY MSM...they are attempting to get US MSM to print articles using these fake Russian Trump NSA documents and then destroy their creditability.....who is doing this is currently being investigated.

Maddow to news orgs: beware of forged Trump Russia documents!

Rachel Maddow explains how an ostensible top secret NSA document submitted through the show's inbox is likely a fake, and points out the perils of such forgeries to news organizations trying to report out important stories like the Trump Russia story.
Duration: 21:06

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/w...m_npd_ms_tw_lw

**OUTLAW 09** · 07-07-2017

Immediate Russian propaganda being put to work out of the Putin Trump meeting...and the US response to this is what again????

They do not even know it exists as they pay no attention to Russian media sources....AND there is no Russian info war ongoing against the US??

Kremlin pool reporter posted this image of Trump handing Crimea to Putin.

**OUTLAW 09** · 07-09-2017

Have been saying the same thing over and over here but hey that was a "soap box"...

EU Mythbusters‏
Verified account
#@EUvsDisinfo

Pro-Trump bots were used in the French campaign against Macron. Who could have had the interest?

https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/a...ampaign=global

AND between the US and French elections they remained largely silent...why is that?? AND who controls them and for what purpose??

Election 2016 Belongs to the Twitter Bots
Daniel Oberhaus
Nov 7 2016, 7:50pm
https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/a...e-twitter-bots

**davidbfpo** · 07-09-2017

This thread has clearly overlapped with others, especially the allegations that Russia has interfered / intervened in the US election process and a large number (124 plus) of posts have now be moved to the Trump thread, which will remain closed. Only a small number have been deleted which were way beyond the Forum's ToR.

SWJ's Forum is not for political discussion. We aim to be an 'online discussion board', not for one individual(s) to dominate.

Clearly this thread has been used by one member to post, he has now announced publicly that he has stopped posting. This thread will now be closed.

If members wish to comment on developments in the USA, that refer to Russian Info & Cyber Operations, a new thread can be opened.