A quick search of the New York Times website reveals that this newspaper has been publishing stories on Iranian hacking of US targets since at least January 8, 2013. Stories on Iranian computer hacking have been published in June 2013, May 2014, November 2015, and in this year alone, in January, February, March, and most recently this week. In other words, this is a long-standing phenomenon, and it seems to me that the US authorities, working with the high tech sector, should take more aggressive actions to raise the cost for Iran.
9
Election security legislation is no substitute for solid password protection and two factor authentication, both of which are in the hands of every individual who uses the internet. I use a program called LastPass. It’s on my phone, my iPad and my desktop. It remembers all 200 of my passwords, which the program itself generates and which are comprised of anywhere from 10 to 30 randomly selected letters, numbers and special characters. It costs 36 dollars a year and is a must for anyone who spends any significant time — paying bills, managing finances, running websites, buying stocks, etc. — on the internet.
2
Get our energy grid and our elections the heck OFF the internet. There is no need, as, obviously, we did just fine before the advent of the internet.
No internet, no hacking. (There can be corruption with or without the internet, of course, but if we rid ourselves of the internet, we reduce the chances for corruption.)
One minor negative: This might increase costs a tad (to run the energy grid) and create a few more jobs and the need for a few more election volunteers.
6
@David G. Actually, there are advantages for the energy grid to be 'on the internet.' Any scheme that replicates the connectivity will be subject to hacking. I would recommend - at a minimum - VPN connectivity brokered by continuously varying token provided "pin's."
Then, lock down in ROM form the code that is executed on the energy grid so that it can not be modified.
Eliminate all possible attack surface. For example, use old-style keyboard + mouse connections (PS/2) instead of USB - USB is an entry point.
I won't go on, but these are the first steps to take. Know that the Iranian centrifuges for uranium enhancement were NOT on the Internet, but were taken down when a suitably altered USB device delivered malware.
3
@Bruce Maier all I know is I never read about potential catastrophic problems from grid hacking until the advent of the internet.
If you are corret with your solution, why the heck don't the "experts" fix the problems with hacking?
3
Get our energy grid and our elections the heck OFF the internet. There is no need, as, obviously, we did just fine before the advent of the internet.
No internet, no hacking. (There can be corruption with or without the internet, of course, but if we rid ourselves of the internet, we reduce the chances for corruption.)
One minor negative: This might increase costs a tad (to run the energy grid) and create a few more jobs and the need for a few more election volunteers.
1
So, social media and tech generally make the country vulnerable, in particular with respect to our elections and how government is legitimated.
Does anyone see a simple solution with respect to our elections? How about taking them out of tech? Hand counts of paper ballots are fine with me. I don’t need instant projections of winners even before polls close in California, or even Hawai’i (sorry Guam). I don’t care if it takes days or even weeks. This would upset commercial media, including their news divisions, but who cares? They would still have their exit polls.
Yes, in a globalized world, high tech with regard to communication makes us vulnerable. But the real problem isn't cross-cultural communication, including that from Iran and Russia, it’s that so much communication has become advertising. We don’t just advertise products—we advertise ourselves, just as the Iranians and Russians, etc., do.
And everybody uses every trick available in the advertisers’ bag of tricks to do so. It’s just “selfies” all the way down.
3
Not that I condone this but influencing foreign election is something the United States has been doing for the last century, especially in Central America.
12
It seems to me that the only way the United States will ever begin to get a handle on real or attempted foreign interference in our democratic processes is to work closely with the tech sector. I applaud Microsoft for stepping up and bringing this to public attention.
14
Having read these relentless and dichotomous partisan posts, may I make a suggestion? It is time to realize Trump is a symptom, not a disease. There is a very long undistinguished history of attacking the symptom instead of the cause. It never works. Otherwise the well-meaning wind up joining forces unwittingly with the malicious, which is of course what the latter aim for.
Would it not be more productive to cease the endless bickering and ad hominems in favour of a down to earth assessment of what got you here and how to do something about it? How many Hobson’s choice elections can you endure? You all seem to recognize you are in trouble.
13
@George The first problem is defining the problem. Technology/Automation is being used to eliminate labor costs (85% of job losses, only 15% to overseas.) As each entity reduces their labor costs, and increases their profits, the profits go to the owners. Before 2000 increases in productivity helped everyone. Why? Because when a company became more productive, they reduced labor costs by eliminating the more numerous low wage employees and replacing them with fewer high wage employees. The low wage employees were quickly able to find a new job, at their prior wages. After 2000 this was no longer true. This is called the 'Great Decoupling.' Before then, average wages went up with increased productivity. Now, we don't need as much labor, so, as with all things, its value is reduced. It is part of income inequality - where the rich get much richer while the poor get somewhat poorer. The wealthy are painting the problems experienced by many as the fault of the 'other.' The other is the mexican, the muslim, the migrant. In reality, the problem is the decreasing value of labor. At some point many will no longer be able to afford what they need to live. We are approaching that point now, hence the outcry. Trump is the hero of the poorly-educated, (as per Trump) and those who believe that the reason they are suffering is because the 'other' is being treated better than they are. Those in rural america are falling further behind, Trump gives them hope.
6
Iranian hackers messed with the wrong guy. They have invited the wrath of the bazooka (Trump) and he will blow them out of their seats in front of their computers. Hope that does not escalate the war with Iran and there is no news regime change war and definitely not one with Iran. In fact a cooling down of the war of words with Iran is on the horizon and don't be surprised if President Trump of the USA and President of Iran Rouhani talk peace in the near future. The precondition that sanctions on Iran need to be lifted first needs to be soften before the impasse is overcome.
2
If I recall correctly, many people said the same thing, i.e., talking peace, about the United States and North Korea. Fortunately, smart people in our government with decades of negotiating experience understand that in order to successfully change the behavior of another sovereign state that seeks to harm the United States, one must not capitulate or give into pressure.
4
@David H
What is the evidence North Korea seeks to harm the US? I see lots of evidence that elements in the US wish to harm other sovereign states, indeed it has happened wholesale.
2
Hacking happens. Get over it. It comes from many countries, not just Iran.
Why is Iran in this spotlight? Because certain people and organizations work to demonize Iran, and seek every opportunity to do so, to promote their own political interests. Others actively promote war.
21
No one should be told to “get over“ hacking or any other sort of criminal behavior by a foreign country. Nor does anybody seek to “demonize“ Iran or Iranians, one million of whom live and work in the United States.
Rather, it is the behavior of the Iranian clerical regime that invites demonization; a simple Internet search will turn up dozens of examples of what I’m talking about.
It is very important to distinguish between the Iranian people and the regime under which they have to live.
3
What is happening to this country? 4 years ago, Democrats were “soft on terror and making peace with our enemies” according to Republicans. Now Trump and the spineless GOP he commands are allowing our enemies to not only do as they please across the world, but to do as they please within the very borders Trump gives lip service to every day! Under this administration, apparently not even our sacred elections merit defense!
Enough is enough. We need to right this ship before the GOP sinks it. We’ve already lost much of our global standing and pushed our allies towards our enemies - and if we let another 4 years go by, we may still be the only superpower in town, but it may have become impossible to contain the expansionist authoritarian regimes Trump’s handing the world to. We must speak out, and vote!
27
@David Clarkson
I believe that this Administration is merely the current actor. I have heard more than a few conservatives over the last decade or so opine before friendly audiences that 1) they know they are losing the demographic war, and 2) they would rather that the majority that emerges from that demographic war not have the apparatus of full, free, and fair elections to deprive those conservatives of their place of privilege.
14
Last year Mr. Trump ordered the expulsion of 60 Russian spies and closed the Russian consulate in Seattle. He also intensified sanctions on Russian officials implicated in the attack on our 2016 elections.
The administration also has intensified sharply sanctions on Iran, Is maintaining severe economic sanctions on North Korea, and is seeking to redress or trade in balance with China through punitive measures.
 Did I leave out anyone?
1
Trump needn't worry.
In 2016 the DNC was using the password "password."
And was hacked.
While the RNC was using two step authentication.
And couldn't be hacked.
Plus, the countermeasures he used in 2018 prevented interference.
Unlike under Obama in 2016, a free for all.
4
@otroad, using "password" as a password is begging somebody to hack it. Very often it has nothing to do with passwords. This is question 1 of a data security quiz I just looked up:
"During which phase of a hacker's five-step approach does the hacker scan a network to identify IP hosts, open ports, and services enabled on servers and workstations?"
My answer: "Beats me!"
Question 4: "Which of the following is a protocol analyzer tool (sometimes called a "packet sniffer") that is used to capture IP traffic from a variety of sources?"
My answer: "What's a packet sniffer?"
Question 7: "Which of the following performs remote scans and audits of Unix, Windows, and network infrastructures and can perform a network discovery of devices, operating systems, applications, databases, and services running on those devices?"
My answer: "Hoo-ee! Failed this test!"
1
It's not all bad. If the Iranians manage to disrupt the Trump campaign, we will see an immediate, well-funded response to combat tampering in our elections. But if the interference comes from Russia, that's not a problem at all.
15
It's fitting if it's 45 as he has denied this has ever been done and refuses to support $ and effort to combat it.
9
Trump: “I don’t see why it would be Russia.”
Trump: “It was Ukraine making it look like it was the Russians.”
Trump soon: It may have been Iran, trying to make it look like it was the Ukrainians trying to make it look like it was Russia.”
Wait for it.
34
It is true and Barbara Bush said it: "What goes around comes around."
12
Have Bezos and Trump found a common enemy? Is it shoe sales? One thing you have to say about Iranians. They're not Saudis. Interesting neighborhood. Wish we could help.
3
And if he loses, guess who will be to blame for manipulating the election?
7
The more Trump mouth speaks hatred towards all these countries and immigrants this is really funny to watch him and the GOP get hacked. We Dems did not even have to ask them . I hope other countries who hate the GOP fix their computer with so many viruses they will be reaping what they sow. Trump keep up all the bad behavior . I would like to see the Iranians go after the religious groups that support Trump also. This will be a good comedy movie some day soon.
5
@D.j.j.k.
Sorry, but it think it is dangerous no matter who does it to whom. I hope that Moscow Mitch is at long last motivated to secure our elections.
8
@D.j.j.k.: I see nothing funny about any of this. I used to think Trump was amusing. Now I consider him a dangerous madman and a clear and present danger to the our future existence (and I'm talking about ALL of us, not just Americnas).
1
The GOP controls the security of the USA. And they simply do not care. And their voters do not care. And they have the voting power. And Fox News to inform them.
11
Again. What's good for the goose is good for the gander.
4
Wouldn’t it be a hoot if our tweeter in chief had his Twitter account hacked? The hacker could send kind and loving messages to all Americans.
Then for sure the GOPers would invoke the 25th.
Dreaming for a minute.
11
Imagine if Iran ends up being the one to save our country and expose Trump! Iran, if you’re listening, should you come across Trump’s peepee tape, I’m sure you’ll be richly rewarded by the press..
16
I'm loving it.
5
Once again proving you reap what you sew
4
Maybe the big orange Cheeto will believe it when it happens to his campaign. Or, maybe that's what he's hoping for so when he loses he can claim the election was rigged and there needs to be a do over. I can see the controversy and the mess coming into view already......all because Trump and the Republicans failed to secure our elections after the Russian debacle in 2016.
13
Suppose incontrovertible evidence of game-changing hacker distortion of 2020 election results is discovered 30 days after the election. What's the remedy. Does the law sanction a "re-do"?
2
If people didn't look at social media sites, would there have been any interference?
3
@EJ McCarthy But, they do and there was.
1
trump doesn't have to worry about being hacked. He apparently moves sensitive information to a, uhm, private server. Where have I heard that before?
7
It’s not a private server, it’s accessible by other people who have the proper security clearances. It is also considered to be the repository of official presidential documents, so the material on it will be seen by successive administrations and archivists.
2
I just returned from a week in China, where I couldn't access anything on the Web from overseas. (Likewise for TV news in my hotel room.) The Great Firewall of China really lived up to its reputation. If Iran and other countries pose a serious threat, perhaps prior to next year's elections the US might benefit from security measures similar to China's. Of course I would _never_ suggest that our domestic trolls be deprived of their 1st Amendment rights.
1
@Lupo Scritor It's easy to get around China's firewall, but yes, you have to know how. In addition to VPNs, there are other techniques. All of China isn't cut off from the Internet - only the "regular folks."
I really wonder for instance if the elite are subject to the same firewall restrictions. I doubt it. Plus too many countries are close by to not allow a way through. When I travelled in China a few years back, I had no issues with an encrypted VPN.
1
@Lupo Scritor That's absurd. That will not and should not ever happen in the US, the land of freedom. The Chinese government censors everything that happens on their internet. Despite their technology advancement, everything is controlled by the government. You really don't want that to happen in the US.
It is galling that people are still running around repeating the false memes that Russia spread about Hillary--they HATED the her role in the Obama-led Russian Sanctions.
No doubt this is a great source of pride for Putin (and, no doubt, Trump).
8
So where does my American super secret donor pack provide donations for Iranian's NRA's educational system?
Or maybe the USA has already taught Iranians by example how to play the influence the democratic election game by using other countries influence computer weapons.
It is just going to get more interesting and subtle from hear on out.
Have to say, I'm smiling right now.
6
The media really needs to do a better job of reporting on this issue. There is a substantial difference between hacking into voting machines and what happened here, which was figuring out passwords to Trump staffers' personal email accounts. The former type of hacking is a danger to our democracy that can be addressed through improvements in our voting processes and systems (ideally by reverting entirely to paper ballots) and could reasonably be considered an act of war. The latter is opportunistic meddling and no amount of election security could be expected to prevent it.
9
I expect the Republicans will condemn this. I hope that the Democratic candidates will as well. Then maybe together they can get agree to provide more secure elections.
4
@independent The House already passed a bill for more security. Ask Moscow Mitch to get the Senate to send it to Trump.
11
Ok, so the cyber manipulation has begun, that’s no surprise
You’d serve us better to describe how we voters are/will be manipulated, what evidence we see, what misinformation we are receiving, how this is affecting us, how to immunize ourselves against it
After all, we might not be able to stop them from talking, but we don’t have to listen
Help us to recognize this in our in-box before it’s too late!
9
@organic farmer: "You’d serve us better to describe how we voters are/will be manipulated, what evidence we see, what misinformation we are receiving, how this is affecting us, how to immunize ourselves against it ..."
If you can't work that out for yourself, America and it's population are in a very sorry state. Well, they are anyway, and if you can't work out fact from fiction all by yourself, that would go a long way towards explaining why.
2
This is pretty funny and entertaining. The US just stepped on a rake over and over again.
18
While these current circumstances may be ironic (with a little schadenfreude mixed-in for good measure), the broader issue of cybersecurity is serious business. Senator McConnell needs to support this effort, post haste.
As the sobriquet "Moscow Mitch" brought him to action on the Election Security Bill, perhaps something new would spur him on.
Any suggestions?
14
There is no good reason to have the internet involved in any way with elections. Not that long ago there was no internet.
Everyone should expect that what they do on the net can easily become public.
Facebook and twitter users want to be public!
7
@John Perry I study computer science at a university. One thing I have learned about computer security — every computer system can be exploited/hacked with enough resources (time + money). I firmly believe that we should ban voting machines.
Paper ballots aren’t perfect but they are more traceable.
14
Ahh,
The good ol' Axis of Evil; come together, perhaps, to unspool the world's 'freest' country.
The 2016 elections were questioned in the aftermath.
The 2020 election is being questioned already, and that is all it will take for it to be rendered illegitimate, and therefore its winner- no matter who - not recognized; certainly by our adversaries and quite possibly by some allies.
This will embolden oppressive regimes and dictatorships around the world to no longer fear any consequences for their actions and likely bring a swift end to any reliable world order.
Imagine the keystone coming out of an archway.
5
I wanted to make a smart comment, but ya’ll beat me to it. Pandora’s box is open. Just remember the one thing left in that box: HOPE
15
There is more that we United States can do than simply hope. We can educate our children, starting in elementary school, to understand how the rest of the world works. There are only a handful of countries in the world that respect human dignity, that value human life and personal freedoms, the way the American people do, regardless of the administration in power. from there, children can be taught about communication, about critical thinking, and about how the United States has enemies that wish to undermine our way of life. It’s not a pleasant thing to bring to the attention of youngsters, but we have to start somewhere.
1
It's a shame they got caught. The entertainment value alone, of watching congressional republicans twisting in the wind as they get bombarded with release after release of the trump campaign's efforts to steal the election, would have been great.
36
This is the funniest thing I have heard this week, filled with irony isn't it?
21
Maybe foreign interference will be normalized and all sides will get equal treatment. Might be the best way to get the dirt on all the candidates.
7
Gee sounds like some people want an irate already Trump to attack their enemy Iran. Im sure the Iranians would not want that.
2
What comes around, goes around, Mr. President.
17
Iran, if you could dig up a copy of Donald's tax returns we'd love to see them.
81
@Thomas J Pain And a copy of his grades so we can compare them to Obama's.
6
No, no, no. This story has it all wrong. Obviously its the Dems: either they're disguising their hacks as being for Iran or they paid Iran to do it. Better yet, Joe Biden made them do it.
20
False flag to claim election interference.
4
"IRAN, if you're listening.... "
36
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has always been concerned with political corruption.
Ahem . . . .
4
according to Trump this is fake news..but as always he is lying...I am sure he is very worried
9
Trump will say it's fake news...but he will worry
6
Gee, maybe now Trump will take election interference seriously, eh? Or, maybe, this isn't from Iran but from Ukraine? LOL
9
The GOP APPROVES!
5
My, my, my... The shoe's on the other foot now.
9
Huh. I guess Iranians aren’t so bad after all.
15
Iran, if you're listening, can you please hack Donald's banking records. I'm only joking, of course.
16
@Haynannu
I'm not joking, I welcome outside interference from foreign nations now. Trumps been asking all year for it.
4
They found Cliton's emails.
2
Ah, it was probably just a 400-pound guy in his Mom's basement...
20
Fake news. A hoax. A witch hunt.
2
Well...according to Trump and Republicans...If Biden or another Ddm asked them to do so...it would not have been wrong! LOL.
7
Fake News, right Donald?
9
As I said earlier today in another comment, what’s good for the goose is great for the gander.
Unfortunately, we’re in a true, low-grade war for the future of the country we all knew and loved. We can’t stand around any longer doing nothing while nuclearized information missiles take out the bridge of the ship of state. If Iran wants to help Democrats out, Republicans have given the world the green light to do so, a sort of 21st Century adaptation of the story of France and the American Revolution.
What I instead hope to see is Republicans waking up to the fact that they’ve been playing with fire for way too long. Eventually, it gets away from them and torches everything on their side of the Mason-Dixon Line. Best to come to Appomattox now, not for surrender but cooperation in protecting and preserving everything we’ve inherited together and everything we share as a Union.
12
We have a president who is very comfortable in not fixing this problem. We all know why. A normal President would have, from day one, made it a priority to combat foreign and domestic enemies in protecting our elections.
13
@freeasabird very true, Trump has done nothing but cause problems. Solving problems aren’t good for maintaining a healthy herd of fear driven followers.
Case in point he was committed to ‘drain the swamp’ and he has done nothing but turn it into a huge lake of heisters. Though many are proving to be short time swamp dwellers.
1
So will Trump blame this on the Dems also? Won't be surprised if he manages to find a way to twist things to his satisfaction.
4
If Iran found dirt on Trump, it seems they have two choices:
1. Use it as leverage to get sanctions lifted, or
2. Expose it for all to see.
I hope they choose the latter.
21
What comes around goes around...
18
So Microsoft, not the United States government, tells us about this.
201
Microsoft was able detect the attack because it was against Microsoft customers. I don’t think anyone else would be monitoring a Microsoft owned network for threats against customers.
18
Now conservatives might get serious about protecting our elections from foreigners.
66
@T Montoya:
Or, . . . the US may send missiles to Tehran, or wherever they feel the virtual attack came from.
Trump may be able to justify it to his base as the US, along with Trump's Saudi pals, have it in for Iran.
Keeping in mind his actions to date, don't underestimate the lengths Trump will go to stay in office and out of a NY state penitentiary.
21
i think many republicans can't find Iran on a map and would rather their government not be spending money on something they do understand, which is little.
5
Considering that the US unleashed the abominable Stuxnet virus on the world by dumping it on the Iranians first who can blame the Iranians for playing the same game. America has no moral high ground on basically anything anymore.
13
I have yet to hear any Democratic candidate shout, “Hey, Iran, if you’re out there listening...”
16
Aah: poetic justice.
The obverse of that memorable John Lennon lyric is,
"The hate you make is equal to the hate you take."
13
If you live by the sword, you die by the sword.
13
Gee .. maybe Trump will ask China to investigate this too...
11
C’mon. How do we not know it’s some 600-pound guy in his mom’s basement
9
Let's see how Donny likes it when the shoe is on the other foot.
8
The attack is the latest indication that cyberattacks and disinformation are likely to play a major role in the 2020 presidential campaign, as they did three years ago.
The only real thing that had a major role in the 2016 presidential election loss was Hillary. Nice try though.
1
Great. Someone else to blame when he loses. Another can of gasoline on the fire he'll be lighting.
12
This is allowed now right?
10
Hey Iran can you find Don’s tax returns?
18
What re-election? The days of Mr Trump's awful impersonation of a president are over. Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me (or, as that great communicator, Mr Bush, said, ahhhh...we won't get fooled again.)
8
If Iran hacked Hillary's email Trump would say, "I love Iran, please Iran show us the information you found."
20
Well, at least we can take some comfort in realizing the worst that the Iranians can do to the Trump campaign is to reveal the Truth!
20
Dear Tehran
Please keep trying!
Thanks,
Greg
20
Lindsey Graham is sweating a lot.
Good times.
23
"Iran, if you're listening, please show me the emails and other evidence of Trump's 2016 campaign collusion with Russia."
23
@The Sanity Cruzer Hear! Hear!
1
Um, Mitch, about that Election Security thing...
22
Luckily, Trump doesn’t mind a little foreign influence.
23
So I guess this means we'll get to see who has the better prepared, more competent, and better funded campaign for US president-- Iran or Russia.
But let's not yet completely write off the third-party and write-in campaigns, China and North Korea.
15
China, if you're listening, I'm sure any Democratic candidate would eliminate Trump's tariffs if you can find those 3300 phone calls hidden on the Secret Server.
15
Whether Trump likes it or not, his attacks on Iran and dismissing the nuclear accord pretty much invited this. Iran would prefer Trump not be in office now, let alone for another 5 years. What better way for them to achieve that than to hack his campaign, find his secrets and use those secrets against him.
He can hardly complain now, having invited Russia to hack Clinton's emails--which they happily did and quickly.
19
"If it's what you say it is, I love it!" - Don Trump, Jr.
Iran: welcome to the U.S. election hacking party. The Trumps love this kind of election interference, so you should fit right in!
24
So sad. Couldn't have happened to better bunch of people.
10
Should I resist the temptation to say, hack hack hack away? We want every bit of dirt that we can get on the Kushners, Trumps and any republican senator up for election in the next 4 years. Republicans have given it the nod.
12
The public response from Donald will be that Obama and the Dems made big promises to Iran if it could dig up dirt on Trump. It is essential that someone other than Trump sans adequate firewall protection take the fall. Deja vu to the Ukrainian dirt getting fiasco.
7
Oh goodness, I can hear the whining, crying, gnashing of teeth that will occur when the Republicans finally figure out that not all foreign powers desiring to meddle with our elections are on their side.
Bunch of real geniuses, they are.
31
I’ve just ordered a brand new popcorn machine.
21
Please, Mr Freeasabird:
Reconsider!
Political life . . . and life in a society in which we depend on policymakers (i.e. a democratic republic) . . . is not a spectator sport.
Please! Take the time to shed the cheap cynicism and find a responsible position and candidate and group of honorable citizens to support. You will be much happier in the long run.
And so will the rest of us.
If I am misreading your post about ordering a new popcorn machine, I apologize. Don't take it personally; I just get so discouraged when I hear people whining and moaning and deploring the state of affairs, but refusing to put any effort into the mutual project of running a country.
Vince in Grand Rapids
Mutual project? The Republicans refuse to work on any “mutual projects”. It’s not an exaggeration.
9
Surely Mr. Trump has no issues w/ this.
If Trump can solicit the Chinese and Russians and Ukraine to spy and undermine the election campaigns of his opponents, certainly the Iranians can do the same to his campaign, on their own or if requested by the Democrats... or Never-Trumpers, or Bill Weld...
9
This is what you get when the president asks for interference on his political rivals.
Did the Republicans think they would be immune from this. They can thank their leader.
You sow what you reap.
I am not happy about this because Trump has opened Pandora's box. Now any foreign country can try to hack campaigns and meddle in our elections.
Republicans must stand up and be counted on defending our democracy.
Now it should be ever more important to them.
Will they finally do what is expected of everyone in congress? Defend our democracy!
17
I am reasonably sure that Moscow Mitch will now do an about face and fully fund anti-hacking safeguards for the 2020 elections and buy "hack proof" voting machines with a paper ballot backup. After all he wants a fair election safe from foreign interference.
18
Nah - he'll bet Russia can outhack Iran.
5
@Gary Valan surely he’s not stupid enough to believe it would never happen to his team??!! Oh, wait....
6
Trump supporters, please consider whether you'd be okay with a Democratic candidate supporting Iran's effort here. No? Well, the shoe is on the other foot. It's time to impeach.
30
At a minimum, we should expect that everyone we attack will attack us back. That is important because the US and Israel are in the forefront of cyber attack and sabotage, both developing new methods and using those methods.
Worse, once we use a new method, the other side has a copy of it. Likely so does everyone else. It is secret only for the first use, until caught. Then it is coming back at us.
As this spirals, it is becoming more like our phone system.
Right now, robocalls, phone scams, daily persistent marketing harassment, and other phone call abuse is so obnoxious that it is no longer possible to do things by phone that we once could. It is all screened out. Some of my phones no longer even ring, I turned it off to avoid being awakened by abusive calls.
Our cyber systems are at risk of more than just attack. We are at risk of losing the use of them, as we have lost much of the use of our phones.
Recently I opened an email by mistake, and lost control of my inbox. My carrier was very helpful, and it was fixed. But I'm nobody important. That is the first one to hit me, and if it hit me it must be hitting many. This is out of control, and we could lose the whole thing to the abuses if we don't fix it.
How can we fix it? First of all, we'd need to try. Right now, we do nothing even about the phones.
16
Mr Thomason:
You are not alone.
Here's my favorite conspiracy theory. Someone benefits by rendering most of us unable and unwilling to communicate with each other . . . whether by phone or email or ??.
Now who would that be?
Maybe it's the U S Postal Service! Is the USPS secretly plotting to increase first-class rates AND simultaneously to compel us out of desperation to resort to buying postage?
Or perhaps it's the Boy Scouts. If they deprive us of our accustomed instant communication services, when we are all thoroughly sick of wading through unwanted and vicious and dangerous e-traffic, the Boy Scouts will offer, for a fee, lessons in flag semaphore and shortwave Morse code transmissions. (Query: Does the U S Navy still teach its signalmen semaphore?)
Of course, conspiracy theories aside, here's the real question.
Do we want to communicate with each other? Or are we happier isolating ourselves to shield ourselves from other people's reality?
Vince in Grand Rapids
The fact is none of the carriers or phone companies have any desire to fix this, robocalls fake credit card calls, fake fix your PC calls generate a ton of money.
2
@Smith -- I'm sorry to think you must be right. If any of them actually wanted to fix it, we'd have noticed by now.
2
Cyberattacks are a vulnerability no knows how to counter. Incredible flaw for everyone. We advance in technology to a war zone that is apparently indefensible. Who needs guns; planes; ships and other standard weapons of war? Cyberspace is the current battlefront.
11
I know I am just another sheep waiting to be sheared, but for the life of me I never felt I was being manipulated during the 2016 election.
I knew from day one I would never vote for a bohunk like Trump. As an American I had seen his low brow high-jinks for decades.
I voted for Mrs. Clinton not because she was my preference but because she was the best candidate on offer.
Outside propaganda may sway some folks, but I sincerely doubt it is the insidious, ubiquitous cause of unfortunate political outcomes so many decry. Y2K to the nth degree.
I mean get a grip.
16
@gpickard It only has to sway a very small percentage of voters in key states to stay home to have catastrophic consequences. Outside propaganda is not aimed at changing people’s actual votes. It is aimed at demoralizing Democrats who are mildly invested in a candidate so that they stay home and angering right-leaning voters to vote.
11
@gpickard
Do some reading about Cambridge Analytics and get back to us about how very targeted social media campaigns can have an insidious and effective impact on an election.
2
@gpickard
Read the Mueller report. It was a significant attack reaching tens of millions. They had campaign groups on our soil fostering race hatred and division especially towards immigrants.
Did it work? Are we divided?
1
The objective here, as with similar efforts on the part of the Russians, the Chinese, and the North Koreans, is to undermine American voter trust in our governmental institutions and, indeed, the validity of our democratic process.
The net effect is to weaken the fabric of our society from within, by not firing a shot.
Given the sharp partisan divide that exist in the country today, I’d say our adversaries are well on their way to achieving success.
16
So, I just need to wait for the dust to clear and let domestic/foreign hackers/bots inform me about how to cast my vote. How convenient. That still leaves me longing for whistle stop tour speeches and the kissing of babies. Ah, sadly, the days of the pre-internet Luddite campaign has faded away in a Doppler fashion. Gotta' go. I think I hear my TV streaming.
7
I think this means that if a Democrat wins in 2020, we'll be looking at the kind of drawn out fights we saw in 2000 over who 'actually' won the election regardless of margins, as Trump has never been willing to accept the legitimacy of any facts related to his failures. I don't want to imagine a situation in which the Supreme Court follows along and hands Trump another term for partisan reasons, but given their acceptance of partisan gerrymandering, unlimited corporate contributions to campaigns, etc., part of me wouldn't be surprised to see this story develop into the catalyst for the US fall into a flagrant disavowal of any semblance of legitimate democracy. I don't trust our checks and balances anymore.
21
Time to go back to a paper ballot and pencil!
22
We could do that, but it would not make the slightest difference. The reason is that this is not about changing votes on electronic voting machines. Rather, it’s about altering our perceptions of reality, by planting forged documents on servers and on social media, and by spreading false stories that may contain a grain of truth to them. You might want to look up the term “disinformation“ on the Internet and read about it.
16
@Powers:
Paper ballots are used in European and other countries, just as they used to be used in the US.
But being able to declare or project a winner in "real time", and to show the campaigns celebrating a win or decrying a loss as soon as possible, makes for better entertainment.
Waiting a few more hours to count real ballots just wouldn't be the American Way. And besides, electronic voting is so much more modern and high-tech.
Why should the US vote the slow, old-fashioned way, just because it's more secure and provides a record?
In the US the emphasis is on counting the advertising $$$$, not counting the votes. Priorities.
9
@Powers
In my state we have a paper ballot which is immediately read by a machine. Thus we have the immediate result and also the ability to recount.
I should also mention that as the ballot is read it is fed into a locked container.
8
According to Reuters, the hack by Iranians was done to the Trump campaign. This was my original thought, frankly, given Trump's policy decisions.
5
Blaming this on Mr. Trump misses the point. Tomorrow it could be Elizabeth Warren. 
2
If the GOP looks into this, I wonder whether Trump will call it a “witch hunt”...
8
Iran if you are listening, can we add trump's college transcript to the pile of tidbits we want?
63
@Ty Nooj
And while you are at it, add his tax returns.
11
That's what happens when you have a hostile POTUS inviting our very enemies across the globe to interfere in our elections.
18
Trump will use this to start a war with Iraq.
7
Iran dident have to hack anything about trump everything in washington is for sale under his adminstration. (extra charge for next day delivery)
7
Are they funding this with the Billions of my tax dollars the last administration delivered in cash by filling a 747 with pallets
3
@Reo Cutler The billions sent by the Obama administration was Iran's money frozen by the US and released as an incentive for Iran to agree to to the nuclear agreement. Republicans falsely call this a bribe for Iran's agreement.
32
@Frank Heneghan It doesn't matter how often you state the obvious truth they will never get over the fact that Obama wore a tan suit.
16
@Reo Cutler
This is going to happen when Trump demands other countries to dig dirt on his opponents. Russia if are listening.... and now, Iran started listening.
1
Funny how the “please hack my adversary’s emails” can come back and bite. The man has not demonstrated an ability for forward planning though so surely there’s no lesson in it for him.
18
While I abhor foreign interference in our elections, it would be sweet poetic justice if Trump’s tax returns or other documents somehow appeared courtesy of a foreign hack. I know Trump wouldn’t mind; it’s his favorite campaign strategy. In Trump’s words, we’d only be getting help in “investigating criminal activity.”
25
Well, at least they couldn’t have stolen his dignity.
27
Great-another chance for Trump to play the victim.
9
And what did our intelligence services hack into & sabotage at Iran's expense in these last few months, besides overthrowing their democratically elected leaders? Or is this a secret to be kept hidden from our sensitive public?
6
To seek justification for Iranian malevolent behavior by blaming the United States is a serious distortion of reality.
Could this really be Russia – acting through Iran – perhaps on behalf of Greenland – as requested by Alabama?
37
Does anyone believe Donald will see the error of his ways?
Me neither.
9
There is something delicious about this news. And the irony is should not lost on any intelligent American.
16
Somehow I see Joe Biden and family members being accused and dragged in on some level.
It's been a wacky week of accusations thus far. Not sure how far off the mark it could be for some experienced fabricator to drag and accuse Joe Biden and family members into this mess.
Freaky Friday ain't over yet.
3
Iran, if you're listening, please find those 30,000 lying tweets.
Oops, they are public. Please find evidence linking MBS to Khashoggi's brutal end.
18
How long until we find out trump solicited Ali Khamenei to dig up dirt on his political rivals?
6
As much as I'd like to say - have at it, any interference in our elections, regardless of the fact POTUS is a corrupt and incapable of being a legitimate commander in chief, is simply not acceptable.
3
Irony can be pretty ironic sometimes.
No doubt Trump and his cult will be screaming about this on Twitter.
12
Iran, if you can hear me, we want Trump’s taxes. I know you want those sanctions dropped.
22
@Dennis
Iran, if you see this, and have a way of accessing Trump's tax returns, know that you can get all sanctions dropped by threatening to release them.
10
Oh - so the way this plays out is that Trump makes a deal with Iran to give it nuclear weapons in exchange for cyber hacking the dem candidate instead?
5
@Sarah Conner Sounds plausible.
I just want to know whether any other country other than Russia tried to hack during 2016. Trump said yes and was called a liar. It appears that he was right. Fact checkers appears to be fake, just another tool to attack Trump.
2
@Alex E Many countries and organizations at any given time are looking for vulnerabilities in American companies, governments, organizations, etc etc. The answer is obviously yes, but none of the other countries actually delivered weaponized information except Russia.
Fact checkers aren’t attacking trump, his statements are commonly verifiably false.
10
Well he always has you to guard his back no matter how many times he breaks the law or lies to the world. What a guy!
3
@Alex E Does anything in this article claim the Iranians hacked in 2016?
Just askin'.
1
Iran, if you’re listening, please release Trump campaign emails at a strategic moment...
15
One of the great paradoxes of the contemporary era is that powerful new technologies are hawked as making our lives easier and better, but in the short term they often end up creating chaos and destruction. At any moment in time the total quantity of human greed vastly exceeds the sum of human virtue. So the number of people seeking ways to amorally exploit new technologies will always be greater than those devoted to finding beneficial uses. Iran is internally a repressively moralistic society, but it too cannot resist the temptation to indulge the evil potential of manipulating media technology.
One can only hope that over time these impulses will balance out, and that this necessary rectification will occur before societies destroy themselves in orgies of greedy indulgence. Right now it is difficult to be optimistic. Can we humans learn to place internal limits on the urge to power and our hedonistic impulses? If not, the future choice may be between unfettered destructive self-indulgence and bleak survival based on draconian pervasive systems of social control.
1
@woofer
Hey! You noticed! Now a major part of contemporary life--"...chaos and destruction". We should have stopped at the electric typewriter and desk phone. Technology is a true Pandora's box.
2
Deep thoughts and completely justified worries 🤔
I need a Trump supporter to clear this up for us all . As I understand it from watching the President , it should now be perfectly fine for the "Dems" to thank the Iranians for this hack , encourage the Iranians to "keep on hackin'" and then fully cooperate with the Iranians. It's the new normal, right ?
63
@ASU
There is only one person who carries the power of the Presidency. So your false equivalence is just silly and naive.
I want everybody to imagine the Republican reaction if Warren right now said, "Iran, if you're listening. Hack the IRS and get Trump's taxes. Hack his phone and get some text and call records."
Because that's what Trump did in 2016 and what he continues to do now.
87
@Ken Parcell
And the Warren should appear with Khamenei and say, "I asked Ali Khamenei and he said Iran had nothing to with the hack".
And ALL republicans should say, sounds legit. Nothing more to look at, no investigations required--they're just witch hunts anyways....
15
So what’s new? Hackers exist around the world, sometime with government direct or indirect support.
Why is Iran being singled out? Because certain interest groups are coordinating a campaign to demonize Iran for their own benefit.
9
You are making assumptions motions, not stating facts about people’s intention re: this issue.
2
Imagine Trump's meltdown if he discovers all these countries accepted his request to influence the election... AGAINST him.
38
Any government that has a stake in US policy would have to be foolish NOT to try to interfere in our elections, given that our President has invited the world to do so. But sure, let's keep whistling past the graveyard and treat Trump's behavior - and the actions of the Democrats trying to stop him - like a "both sides" sporting event. What could possibly go wrong?
10
This is terrible for our democracy, support Trump or not. Only by staying united can we counter foreign interference. Can we? or will we fall.
4
While I understand the schadenfreude of hoping Iran is going after Trump, there is an ethical problem, and a political one:
1. We are better than this. The end does not justify the means.
2. Trump is itching for a big story to turn attention away from looming impeachment, and what could be bigger than a war? He is a desperate, dangerous man with nuclear codes. I would not trust him to simply insult Iran. A shooting war, started by the guy who said there’s no point in having nukes if we will never consider using them, is a horrific possibility.
11
@Lawyermom
But the evidence is overwhelming, you’re not better than this and haven’t been for a long time, if you don’t mind me saying. You have won poll after poll as to the greatest threat to world peace, not for nothing.
Why don't Donald Trump's political rivals call on foreign governments to hack into the IRS and release his corrupt tax returns? This is so out of hand now. This is the equivalent of allowing rampant doping in sports. Now that the US allows foreign governments to interfere with zero retaliation or consequence, there is no incentive not to cheat.
There is no consequences for locking up immigrant children in jails, defying congressional subpoenas, lying to congress, calling on foreign governments to interfere in elections, cheating on taxes, sharing US citizens online meta data with foreign companies and governments, murdering journalists, or annexing allied countries territories.
No one fears repercussions from the US government any more, but for some reason law makers are petrified of a 73 year old lunatic who subscribes to conspiracy theories and promotes them on Twitter.
19
@Tyler Let's hope you turn out to be very, very wrong.
Godspeed to the House investigations and inquiries and to public participation, lest you be proven right.
1
So, now it's Iran vs. Russia for control of the U.S. electoral system. But let's not count out China and N. Korea.
9
Lest we forget, the purpose of the cyber attacks was to pit US voters against each other, in an attempt to destroy the foundation of our democracy.
8
Too late.
In inviting the Kremlin, Ukraine, China and lord knows who else (the Five Eyes?) to interfere in our elections in his favor, Trump said "Open Sesame" to lots of foreigners who don't like him.
In the wake of this bit of poetic justice, maybe now Moscow Mitch will agree to Congressional funding for paper ballots.
15
How do we know the hackers are from Iran? Did they submit their passports?
On the internet, it is VERY HARD to find the true source of traffic. How do we know that the true source is not China, Russia, Turkey, India, Hungary, Nigeria or Israel?
4
@Neel Kumar
Or Washington?
3
I denounce an adversarial foreign power meddling in our presidential election. See, not that hard to do (looking at your Republicans).
7
Even if the president didn't intend to create a quid pro quo between our Ukraine policy and Ukraine's willingness to take actions that benefit him personally -- and I very much think he did intend that -- other nations inferred the quid pro quo from his actions.
Every nation would be smart to take heed and try to think of ways to get in Trump's good graces. If Iran doesn't want to be bombed, they would be smart to dig up some dirt on Beto O'Rourke (for example). If Turkey wants extradition of Fethullah Gulen, they would be smart to pay one of Trump's national security advisers. If China wants a better trade deal, it makes sense to give some trademarks to Ivanka.
Our foreign policy is for sale. Each nation can innovate on how to bribe our president.
8
djt invited china to do sth. ...
now others feel encouraged.
it's the age of cyber activity.
back in the old days, the CIA
used to do plenty of interfering.
remember iran, for instance, 1953.
or chile, sept. 11, 1973.
and at least 80+ other occasions since way back when
i.e. since the US of A's inception.
[lest we forget: sanctions are a way of interfering, too.]
6
How far are we away from every candidate soliciting foreign governments to meddle in our elections? That'll be a party huh?
It's a crazy world, and the crazy hasn't even really gotten started yet. Those Trump voters that Michael Moore said wanted to "burn it all down"? I guess they're getting what they voted for...
3
Are we sure it’s Iran or Saudi’s Arabia hackers posing as Iran? Microsoft better be sure if themselves. If it’s a republican they will use it to justify invading Iran.
4
Will this manifestation of "what goes around comes around" cause Republicans to take election security seriously?
3
@Stanley Brown
Never! Don't worry. They won't consider it for a minute.
1
America always seems to be a day late and a dollar short in matters such as these.
I would bet a bushel of beets that the U.S. government found out about these Iranian hackers a very short time before the story was printed in the NYT.
Even though in September McConnell finally caved in and said he was co-sponsoring an amendment to an appropriations bill that would provide $250 million for election security, somehow that dollar amount seems meager, at best.
And here, a mere few weeks later, this story breaks about "Iranian hackers [that] targeted hundreds of email accounts associated with at least one presidential campaign. . . "
What this proves and says to me is that a BILLION $ needs to go into shoring up and securing these systems long before November 2020.
I'm waiting for the GOP to claim that they have been so distracted by the "witch hunt" about Trump and Ukraine and the whistle blower, they were unable to focus all of their time and attention to these cyber attacks. What an upside down and clumsy group of goofs.
4
And wouldn't it be terrific if they could
hack the 09-16 tax returns too and then
dump it on wiki-leaks??
Go for it guys! He deserves nothing
more than the honor of being laid bare for
all to gaze with awe and wonder how
it was that so many were fooled for
so long.
6
I think we should just throw up our hands and let the rest of world decide who our president should be. It seems fair...we're always telling the rest of the world what they can and can't do, so why don't we let them decide who should be doing the telling?
5
Carp
Mandate all Internet Service Providers move to IPv6 so the IP address of the hackers is known.
Force NSA disclose the Cisco, Microsoft, Apple, et all operating system deficiencies they use to infiltrate foreign networks; so they can be fixed.
Get off Facebook's case about end to end encryption with no back door; the bad guys already use it for their communications.
Just saying.
I don’t think this is good.
However I’d like to pre-point out the hypocrisy of any republicans or conservatives or lolbertarians who didn’t care when Russia hacked. Maybe this will finally show them the problem we face.
4
You know what they say about Karma. Yet, whatever dirt any hackers find on Trump, his cult followers will celebrate as a virtue. It’s only scandalous, unseemly, and overreach when someone other than Trump is involved. We may never know the depths of this administration’s corruption, but the moral bankruptcy of Trump’s enablers is plain for anyone to see.
8
I am quite certain that just prior to the attack on Trump's campaign email, the President did not say: "Iran if you hear me, release all my campaign emails because I have nothing to hide."
5
This is delicious. Let payback begin for a president and party that has done squat for cyber security.
I can almost hear him screaming should the Iranians be really good at this and tilt the election to the Democrats via disinformation campaigns.
5
I wonder if our president is still in favor of foreign interference in the 2020 Presidential election.
4
Well, well, well...
I suppose now Mitch McConnell will finally consider that election security bill he tossed in the trash.
Election interference and hacking is only "fake news" when it happens to a Democrat. I suppose now, the GOP will reverse course on this particular issue.
They are seriously the most morally bankrupt party in the history of world governments.
9
Wouldn’t it be interesting if Trump managed to find common ground with Iran over hacked candidate emails...
Caveat Emperor
5
Perhaps Trump asked them to do it.
3
Maybe the Iranians are just doing an "investigation." Apparently in Trumpworld, foreign entities can do that sort of thing in America.
15
Not to worry Trump Putin asked them to.
Karma be a witness.
Luckily America does not have to provide any tech help that the Great Trump does not believe in.
4
Iran is obviously looking to trade emails for advanced nuclear technology. Rudi will be in Tehran next week
9
Trump is simple-minded. Everyone has his number. He cares only about his winning, whether his reelection or his personal finances, to the detriment of our country, all countries not ruled by dictators, and anyone close to him.
Foriegn, or domestic, powers can easily curry favor from such a simple mind that has never been held to account by family, a school, government, board of directors, investors, or even a pet.
Fred Trump fixed everything for Donald. Then Russia continued with financial support for his laundering services. Now, the current GOP is supporting him and his historic incompetence.
8
Countdown to Republicans suddenly starting to care VERY VERY MUCH about foreign nations meddling in the US elections. 3,2,1 ...
2
I thought Trump approved of foreign hacking of US campaigns.
6
The enemy of my enemy’s enemy is my enemy too?
There are powerful people in the US who are relentlessly agitating to attack Iran. Can you blame them for snooping?
3
Biden should immediately and publicly call on Iran to find dirt on Trump to use against him in 2020.
Let's see the GOP complain about that.
Sid
7
'IRAN, if you're listening, I'm sure the America will reward you mightily if you can find Trump's missing emails and conversations'
9
"As you sow, so shall you reap"... But I'm afraid the president will not understand the message... Is there still a wise man at the White House? Politics is, well should be, about talks and compromises, not about threats and revenge. There's more winning in cooperating than in opposing. And that's valid for every part of the conflict. It should not be forgotten that millions of innocent people can pay for the damage caused by egocentric leaders. Peoples should not play this unhealthy game of their unconscious leaders!
2
What is good for the goose is good for the gander. I'm interested in seeing how the GOP addresses this. The Iranians were in compliance with the nuclear agreement and the occupant decided to withdraw from it.
Go figure.....
9
You're perfectly right Mary Ann!
So we had to wait for Iran to do what Wikileaks should have done years ago, if Wikileaks had not been aligned with Trump and Russia.
6
Thinking it doesn’t matter which candidate is the target. This is nonpartisan and I support both the GOP and the Dems in guarding against this crime.
1
@Dorothy "I support both the GOP and the Dems in guarding against this crime"? Are you living in a parallel universe? The GOP have denied the issue and refused to consider any remedies to guard against it.
6
Since obeying laws seems to be optional these days, I would like the GOP to provide me with a list of all the crimes I can commit and avoid punishment by using the excuse that "It's just me being me."
27
This is unfortunately just the beginning of what we may find out about foreign hackers. Gee, the GOP always seems so sure that only Democrats will be hacked. Bitter truth for them now?
Maybe Mitch McConnell will take a quick look at election security?
17
@Elizabeth
Moscow Mitch finally allowed the Senate to vote money for cybersecurity. Seems far too late for me, we should have been building ways to thwart this hacking starting the day after Trump's election.
7
Sorry but I can not help but chuckle chuckle a bit over this news, even though it's bad news for any democracy, especially one that is in chaos like ours is right now. We are in a whole new era of propaganda spreading by governments at odds with each other.
It's time both parties come to the realization that they must, one way or another, persuade Microsoft and Google to come to the aid of their country.
10
Maybe Donny and I finally have something in common? The end justifies the means? I don't care by which door Trump or by what means Trump exits that white house, as long as he exits. Iran - start a go fund me and I'm in.
22
@NotSoCrazy I'd like to see Trump/Pence go, but not because of hacking by Iran. Don't want to see any hacking done by any foreign nation, or anybody in US for that matter.
Oh, the perils of modern technology!
1
So, I guess now the Democratic leadership should be publicly saying, "Iran, if you're listening and have some negative information on Donald Trump please release it publicly."? It's clearly the next step; step one is that we sold our government to the highest American corporate or billionaire bidder under Citizens United, the next step is to give all nations a chance at deciding American elections, assuming they pay enough. Trump has already suggested that we rent our troops out to nations that will pay, sure let's take apart the nation and sell it to the highest bidder, but, say, who gets the money?
17
@Harold Katcher
Er, the US already rents out their troops in quid-pro-quo agreements.
What country has ever received US aid in any form and never gave anything back in return? That is whole point of the State Department.
5
Originally, the internet was built by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency as a way for military installations to maintain communications if attacked in which the web of connections would assure widespread communications capability. So with that original concept in mind, I continually ask; why is our internet still connected to the rest of the world if we are be attacked so heavily through it?
Years ago I had read an article in which it was noted that people in our country had the capability to bounce packets through other country's and I ask the simple question; are our people bouncing packets through foreign nations and back into our own in a scam involving political messaging? There is the question regarding the Military's C.I.A. They are prohibited from operating inside our borders, but, are they?
The famous Cyber Attack Team under the F.B.I. might shed some light on this. But then again, what the F.B.I. knows, the C.I.A. finds out.
Specifically in regard to Iran sabotaging Trump's election, will it really harm his chances at this point, or will it generate sympathy? I wonder. So should you.
4
Why stop at Trump? I’d like to see the contents of Mitch McConnells servers. Lindsey Graham’s too. It would also be really interesting to know who Sean Hannity talks to on a daily basis.
29
Iranians, if you are reading this: Please share any information that you might have on Trump, Trump Jr. and his brother, Ivanka, and any other member of the republican party.
This is not political, but just that I am concerned about corruption.
229
@Thomas Payne
In other words, do it fot the national good. I agree.
11
@Welcome Canada No one would dare impugn my motives. My history speaks for itself. LOL..
4
@Thomas Payne that was delicious.
2
Isn’t it about time that Moscow Mitch answers the why to his actions that held up money to secure our voting boxes, then made it a paltry amount, no where near what is needed?
And just what were those meetings about he initiated with the makers of the voting boxes? And what is his relation to that Russian oligarch who promised a steel mill in Kentucky? Time to subpoena the tax returns of those Trump supporters as well...
33
@Anonymous
Answers? To whom? The people of Kentucky who believe they benefit from the Russian cheating? Kentucky is getting a Russian steel mill They do not care about any special deals his wife's family may be making with China.
And Rand Paul's central philosophy is libertarian, which means anything a Republican does is OK.
3
@Anonymous This has nothing to do with voting or elections. It's hacking into email accounts with easy-to-guess passwords.
How interesting it would be to watch Trump react to an enemy hacking his campaign. I can only imagine the outrage, the tweeting, the strutting about. And what if Iran has something interesting now to hold over his head? HIs deal-making powers with foreign countries when it comes to election results may get a thorough vetting indeed.
Only trouble is, it is not just Trump, but our country, who could suffer the consequences.
21
@kglen Glad you added that last line.
1
This will play into Trump's self-victimization portrayals: nobody is treated as poorly as he has been. We will soon hear that Biden, who supported Obama's efforts on the Iran nuclear deal, must obviously have influence with the Iranians and called for this. Yet another investigation will be needed.
It will never occur to him that his withdrawal from the JCPOA may have encouraged the Iranians to seek to make him, in Mitch McConnell's phrase, a one-term president.
24
In another time, I might argue that this constitutes an act of war.
But not after Trump routinely invites foreign interference against Democrats - and most Republicans (not all) back him up.
If Trump is cool with Russian hacking Democrats, then Iran and China should feel free to hack Republicans.
What goes around, comes around.
113
Maybe Moscow Mitch got wind of this earlier and there was finally an incentive for him to allow $250 million election security legislation to be voted on in the Senate (not yet passed?) Unlike the Republicans who will do anything, block anything, conspire and cooperate with anyone, to win an election, I take no comfort in this interference by Iran. The only silver lining is that it may make McConnell and his hyperpartisan Republican Party understand that this is a democracy and free and fair elections are a good thing for everyone who believes in free and fair elections. That used to be everybody in America.
49
The bird comes home to roost. This is what he gets for DOING NOTHING in response to UNIVERSALLY AGREED UPON (except for the President!) warnings from all branches of government (except Republicans in Congress) about ongoing cyber activity target at 2016 and now 2020 US elections.
104
How could this happen after three years of work by the Trump administration and The GO P Senate to strengthen our defense against cyber intrusion?
Oh. Never mind.
298
Let's be honest here this was going to happen and will continue to happen in the future. Trump has continued to be lax on election fraud to a point that he's practically allowed this to happen. I hope we can secure our elections and root out the corruption that has festered in our elections.
42
The president, Congressman and woman, and the CEOs of big defense manufacturers want more and more expensive, conventional weapons. The big wars of the future will be cyber. Cyber weapons being worked on include ones that can shut down a whole country's grid. But, working on defense against cyber attacks doesn't put people to work in factories, so they go on spending billions on military hardware.
27
Iran, go after the emails in non government servers of Ivanka, Jared and all the Trump kids. I have great confidence in the fact the American voters would find them very interesting. And totally disruptive to the presidential election.
167
It should be mandatory that if you are working for a political campaign, your email address must be protected with 2 Step Authentication. It simply should be the law.
23
@J. L. Rivers But could you explain that to Donny using small simple words? Or cartoons?
3
I'm glad our President and Moscow Mitch took those dire warnings about election interference seriously many months ago when they were warned by numerous officials from several different agencies tasked with protecting this nation.
Obviously Hilary is working with Iran on this one.
95
@Nick No, I think it's the Bidens
3
If you're not using a VPN, updating your software frequently, and cleaning your devices daily you're at risk. You should change your password frequently: some email accounts don't make that easy, e.g., yahoo. Then, there are other bad habits we all have. At least I don't use random symbol generation, which any basic cracking software can crack in seconds.
I use an encrypted password book and random words, never less than 3, with odd spelling and capitalization: there are at least 40,000 words in English. The password book never leaves my side. In addition, I know a little French, German and Japanese to throw in a few more twists.
My browser allowed me to store passwords. I've never allowed it to retain bank passwords or user names. That was fortunate. Even with all these cautions, someone in Iran hacked my Facebook account. Also, I was hacked by someone in Russia and Eastern Europe too. I had the devil of a time pulling out all those wires. Now, I treat it like banking and log in from the password book. I change passwords every few weeks at random.
You can't be too safe.
17
@Rocketscientist
You've given me a great time-saving idea! If we hand-wrote letters and mailed them, visited the teller at our local bank branch to make financial transactions, and called our friends on the phone once in a while to say hello, we could save hundreds if not thousands of hours every year and be much more secure in our personal information! Not to mention the time we could save by not perusing reader comments on *every* NYT article, and adding our own...
28
@Rocketscientist
I never save user names or passwords on my laptop. Never.
@JeffW
Using pencil and paper has always worked for me.
4
Now I have to think trump didn’t bomb Iran because he wanted them to hack a political rivals email account.
I
4
Whether it is the Russians or the Iranians, as a country we need to take steps to (a) protect our systems from these people and (b) make it too painful for them to engage in these types of activities.
The Russians were trying to help Trump; I expect that the Iranians are trying to do "anything but Trump". So we now have parity. Maybe now "Moscow Mitch" will move legislation to stop this kind of activity.
27
@Steve S: Except that maybe China is now working to help keep Moscow Mitch in his Senate role. On behalf of the family of his wealthy Chinese wife.
3
Just out of interest, is this a crime in the US anymore (seriously)? If it turned out that as part of negotiations with Iran that Trump asked them to "investigate" possible wrong doing by presidential candidates is it in turn actually a crime for them to in turn hack emails as part of the investigation? The FBI hacks accounts, correct? I believe outsourcing investigations is actually a thing in the US? Weren't prisoners sent to other countries to be interrogated/investigated previously and that was ok? It seems like the US is heading towards a place in which it is totally ok to get around your own laws by just "outsourcing" to a 3rd party country. I am sure it won't be too long until North Korea sets this up as a line of business...
19
As I recall, when the internet evolved out of the ethernet, the e-mail server was part of the systems, not the network architecture. It seems like the appearance of Yahoo and Google has assumed those functions, perhaps as earlier "spiders" produced necessary ports for the anticipated cloud. Is email a "demon" in a universe of "apps" or even "widgets" these days? The answer surely affects whether a two-way connection can be hacked from an outside terminal or whether that "other" can alter "roots" securely among those "users." I know that Microsoft Outlook remains the world's largest open wound in terms of personal security under a Windows platform, as opposed to any other windows-manager. It was programmed in Visual Basic, which gave it direct access to data on the Windows partition, even as the web server gave the internet a way to name the clients of the system, quite apart from its traffic from the internet. The earliest viruses were macros made for Office Word ("Wurd" we call it from our terminals) that could invade the network's operating system through scripting in Visual Basic. Those macros (a/k/a "stored keystrokes" in the prehistoric era of stand-alones) could easily pass for attachments in anyone's email as they opened Pandora's box in that network.
4
Don’t use email. Landline phones anyone?
5
@Harry
Not very practical for most of us. Changing your password often and using strong, uncrackable phrases will help most and you won't be depriving yourself of communications w/ friends and family who prefer email.
5
@Harry I don't have a cell phone, and I can tell you that relying on a landline really gets in the way of reducing all internet users to their cell phone-numbers as the index to everything else about them (like locating where they are right now). It goes against the trend, but it has advantages.
4
@Harry I agree, but as many suggest that that is not practical, I’d add, do not open any attachment or link that you did not ask for, or were not expecting.
6
The chickens come home to roost. The GOP looked the other way (and actually provided cover) when Russia interfered in the election in favor of Trump. Now Iran, and surely other actors like China, North Korea, etc are trying to benefit a candidate of their liking.
When we look back at how we lost our Democracy, the names Trump and McConnell should top the list.
354
@S. Jackson
??? Huh?
Think the Iranians want Trump reelected? If anything, they'd want any of the Dems who've all praised Obama's Iran nuke deal. You remember: the one in which Iran agreed to put their nuclear weapons program on hold for 10 years after which there are no restrictions in return for $1.5 billion in cash and no restrictions on their ICBM development? That deal? Remember now?
One thing is clear though: if a Dem candidate squeaks through and barely wins the Electoral College by a few votes in three key swing states, the new Dem president wishes to be conciliatory to Iran and certain Republicans claim inconsistencies in the vote along with memes sent throughout the Internet into those swing states traced to Iran, I'll wager any call for a full investigation along with charges of a stolen election and illegitimate president will be led by Democrat horse laughter and derision over a wild conspiracy theory. Yes?
What is missing in this impeachment inquiry is the help of a competent foreign adversary. Trump had Russia helping him in 2016 and that help was relevant and substantial. If Iran, China or North Korea has some of the same level of competence, there is no telling what information they could uncover that the House would never be able to uncover or discover legally. The problem with Trump being so willing to accept Russia's help readily, he forgot or never understood that the help can cut both ways. I think we may have a very exciting fall and early winter as more facts are released.
21
What possible reason could Microsoft have for not revealing the campaign under attack? This shouldn't be their choice. American people need to know!
8
@Aunt Rosie This is between Microsoft and its customers. Microsoft has notified the customers involved so they can tell the world if they’d like.
14
@Aunt Rosie Really, what would knowing the name of the campaign really benefit the average American? Best to assume EVERY campaign will be under attack by one or the other source, and EVERY campaign will have at least one successfully breached account. Because that is more than likely exactly what will happen.
Still need a reason? Maybe revealing the campaign would reveal something that tips the hackers off about sources and methods of the defense, especially if more than one campaign is currently under attack using more than one method. Knowing which method was discovered could be a little more information than we should expose.
6
We know Trump has made a concerted effort to solicit to leaders of other nations to assist with his re election, even requiring it conditional for his support. Why would we not think he would require the same commitments to Iran or North Korea or China or the UK for that matter incorporated into his trade and nuclear negotiations? Knowing what we know about Trump's judgement, ethics and respect for the rule of law, does anyone really feel secure with Trump at the helm?
30
Reminds me of "saint" Ronald Reagan and his duplicitous Iran Contra affair. And who alive and awake then will forget smarmy lying republican Ollie North... late of the NRA. Reagan used the Iranians to help him beat Jimmy Carter. Republicans have a long track record of these kinds of dirty tricks. And republican apologists don't use false equivalency telling US democrats did and do the same. Democrats aren't perfect for sure, but they are hapless amateurs in comparison to the republican long and short game of election fraud, voter suppression, lying and much worse. Go ahead look it up. Check out the record of the late lee Atwater. Newt Gingrich, Moscow Mitch mcCONnell, the Nixon crew, and last but definitely not least the corrupt crooked trump and his team of thieves.
4
At his hearing a few months ago, Robert Mueller made "dire warnings about foreign interference in American campaigns" and that the government has NOT "taken sufficient steps to address it or prevent such an assault from occurring again"
And yet I cannot help but feel those alarming words fell upon deaf ears, just as I fear this article is falling on closed eyes and minds.
How much more evidence needs to be presented to get McConnell's attention on this topic?
140
@Marge Keller
The problem is the republicans have proven they aren’t interested in governing based on ethics of any kind. They use ethics against us all the time and have weaponized it. Anything they do would be tainted towards harming their perceived opponents and political “enemies” at this point.
That is why you don’t allow politics of party in front of ethics. At this point they can’t be trusted to properly achieve such a goal in any form.
35
@Marge Keller
Evidence doesn't matter to McConnell, be it voter protection, sane gun laws, fair taxation, climate, infrastructure...on and on. If you're not from the fossil fuel industry, the NRA or Fox News Mitch ain't listening.
12
Kudos to Microsoft, both for discovering this and for reporting it to the voters.
109
@Dorothy
So America isn't the smartest technology people in the world, news to me.
so pathetic ,our own companies are not even protected.
3
The Iranians have modest cyber capabilities. It's hard to imagine them targeting anyone but Trump. We know that the Russians are on Trump's side. Probably the North Koreans as well.
The giant in the cyber arena, though, is China. Hmmmm. Do you think China would rather target the trade warrior who is damaging China's economy, or one of his opponents?
This tactic can and will cut both ways.
81
@Mark O’Malley
You under estimate Iran's capabilities.
Its about the resources to acquire assets from the dark web.
They're all working with the same people to do the real hacking.
7
China may be the ones not getting caught.
5
Who cares at this point? The concept of America is dead. I'm glad I live in California.
119
Yep. Live in NZ now (thank Jebus), but when asked where I’m from originally I always say California, or the Bay Area. Feel very little connection or loyalty to the U.S. as a whole.
17
@Tom Scott
This is oddly reassuring. Maybe if we leave the U out of the USA, we can all just do and believe as we wish without so much strife.
Nice knowing you, America.
I'm a Washingtonian now.
3
@Tom Scott ...Yes, let's just put up a big beautiful wall
5
Oh do t be so alarmist, maybe they were just figuring out how to donate to a GOP campaign fund.
84
It's not as though the United States has never carried out a cyber attack on Iran. The only thing I don't really understand is why Trump's taxes haven't been surreptitiously obtained and released.
(from June of this year)
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/22/us/politics/us-iran-cyber-attacks.html
WASHINGTON — United States Cyber Command on Thursday conducted online attacks against an Iranian intelligence group that American officials believe helped plan the attacks against oil tankers in recent weeks, according to people briefed on the operation.
The intrusion occurred the same day President Trump called off a strike on Iranian targets like radar and missile batteries. But the online operation was allowed to go forward because it was intended to be below the threshold of armed conflict — using the same shadow tactics that Iran has deployed.
21
If it's Trump's campaign that was hacked, I'd have a hard time getting a Trumpian grin off my face.
I don't have to explain that sneering grin, do I. He thinks it's a smile.
23
This must mean that Trump is colluding with the Iranians.
18
@sf
What it means is that Trump has shown the world our weakness and as he exploits it so will everyone else. That is why it is so dangerous to keep him in power. He is a massive security risk.
4
Maybe so, maybe not. Trump would cuddle with the Kingof Transylvania if he would go after dirt on Biden or Warren.
Let's hope they're at least on the Democrats' side to even the playing field.
9
@james haynes
We don’t need them or want them.
1
@Mathias
If Trump had rejected Russian hackers, the Republicans would be impeaching Hillary.
This is ok with republicans as long as Iran attacks a democrat. It’s ok to send taxpayer dollars to foreign countries as long as they help republicans in the next election. In unrelated news, construction begins on a new Trump hotel in Tehran.
45
Yes, Trump Tower Tehran has a certain ring to it.
The United States, remember, doesn’t just interfere with foreign elections. We remove undesirable elected leaders by force. Case in point, see Iran.
53
Sure, why not? There is a country on sale now.
11
Ironically, I spent this morning on the phone with Norton, cleaning out two Trojan viruses, one clearly foreign. Last night at 9:47 pm, I received notice of over 200 rejected emails, including one that looked like an attempt to send to the Queen of England. (How she is in my e-mail list, I don't know.) Bills for something under my name were sent out to people on lists in my computer, from ABA, OSBA, CBA, NCJW, LWV committee and organization lists to multiple business and other lists and all my family and friends, many of whom have been calling to alert me to the scam and a few to ask why I billed them. I had McAfee security on my new computer. Ironically, as I was speaking to our friend an IT specialist as to what to do to remove the virus, to do to apologize to folks who got these things and to warn them not to open the e-mails, a McAfee ad popped up and warned me that I had to chose between keeping that security system or getting hacked. Let me tell you, I was hacked. Today, Norton found, isolated and removed the two Trojan viruses. I am not associated with any presidential campaign, nor am I a journalist, although I do write comments, op ed pieces and letters to the editor that sometimes are published. I suspect that this hack is a bit larger than 241 accounts. I also suspect that securing our information from hackers international or local virus is not the priority of government or businesses that it should be. I suspect lots of us have lost time removing viruses.
16
@Janyce C. Katz
Please change your passwords to STRONG --- phrases w/ numbers and symbols are hardest to crack. And change them often.
2
Let me guess, Windows?
I bet it’s republicans! Going to be interesting to see how they justify a response after the constant attacks on the Russia investigation.
10
Iran, if you’re listening, get Trump’s tax returns.
707
@Tim -- Add China to that list!
12
@Tim ....and don't stop at just the tax returns....
12
@Tim Don't forget the Secret Server! Those 3300 phone calls hidden on the covert computer.
16
This is great news.
Hopefully, in the not to distant future, we'll get to see the Con Don's tax returns.
28
Why the concern...if they back Trump and hack Dems, they'll get a most favored nation status and a Trump hotel.
42
Yeah but me thinks they won't back Trump, so.... Go Iran!
9
@Patty
Don’t support it. Bad idea.
"The researchers said the hackers tried to attack 241 accounts and were successful in four cases, using fairly unsophisticated means."
And why shouldn't they? If we had any other president, he or she would have set up a task force to correct holes in our computer systems and educate the public about the connection between social media postings and their email accounts.
Instead, the do-nothing president and his Republican friends opted to do nothing until it was very late in the game. It won't be enough to just send money to the states, particularly red states who feel, with reason, they have a vested interest in keeping their systems highly hackable.
No, it needs to be a national, federal initiative of education and state-specific recommendations, as well as research into how to make our entire voting process as accurate, unifor, convenient, and fail-safe as possible.
39
"If we had any other president, he or she would have set up a task force to correct holes in our computer systems and educate the public about the connection between social media postings and their email accounts."
Alas, not only do we instead have the do-nothing know-nothings you've mentioned, we have the NSA who'd much rather keep and use the holes for themselves.
Never mind that once there's a hole, all the OTHER bad guys ALREADY know about it. Especially putin...
1
Persia, if you are listening, release all the dirt you have on Trump.
223
@Lawrence And McConnell and Graham and Grassley and...
5
The US is obviously spying on and working for regime change in Iran.... but (insert deity) forbid they do anything to us that is remotely proportional!
Complete hypocrisy. As usual.
22
Weak passwords. In this day and age. it wouldn't hurt media outlets and campaign organizations to train their staff on the risks associated with email. it's not rocket science.
13
That Russia, Iran, North Korea, and China are the most active hackers targeting US entities is just about the most "dog bites man" statement you can make.
To call this a breaking story is the most absurd exaggeration possible.
4
If it's Iran that's hacking, it must be Trump's campaign.
Why would they hack anyone else's?
24
Wow, talk about railroading a democratic form of government in Iran in 1953. Or, perhaps Chile or Honduras? We're going to need to hold up a really big mirror on this one!
15
Let it be Trumps.
21
Sure they are. I'd file this one under sun rises in the East.
14
Am I a bad person because I really want this to be Republicans?
56
@Jsw
If you're bad, we're all bad.
16
@Jsw
As the late, great Mae West once said:
"When I'm good, I'm very good, but when I'm bad, I'm even better."
If wanting this hacking to be on the Republicans, then so be it. There are a lot worst things in life to be to than this. Let them eat cake.
16
@Jsw if your preference is to have events fit into your preconceived narrative, you’re probably not good or bad, but people should look at the things you say critically. Why not follow the link provided by the NYT to a more primary source. You want it to be GOP operatives, but the people who would know where the attack came from are certain it’s Iranians. Even the US reaps what it sows.
1
Sounds like a new excuse for whoever loses
6
"Death to America" strikes again. And often, like this time, undercover.
Who attacked Saudi Arabia?
5
@R. R.
Who devastated Yemen
Who blew up the World Trade Centers
Well , according to Trump and the overwhelming majority of GOP legislators, soliciting help from foreigners is just another day at campaign headquarters. This news is a nothingburger to them.
If I were a foreign kleptocracy or dictatorship wishing to curry favor with the GOP, why bother with hacking when a simple email stating
"I hear you need some dirt on your rivals. how can we help?" - and the GOP could just list the various deeds and a price tag for each. Simple.
Of course, if a Democrat were to do the same, they are villainous traitors and Trump's personal attorney William Barr will prosecute them for Treason.
So the takeaway from all this ?
There are laws for the GOP, and laws for everyone else in GOP-land.
157
.
@Mark,
.
Better takeaway,
We the People must get MUCH more active in politics including w/ donations.
.
As the bette noir of the cons, Saul Alinsky wrote,
To be effective in politics, get Informed, get Organized, get Tough
.
15
“North Korean” is probably just a flag of convenience for the PRC in this case. Hacking requires real skill and sophistication (as well as, in some cases, computational firepower) which I’m skeptical the North Koreans possess.
@Publius
Well the North Koreans have just test fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) and have already tested ICBMs. All this requires a high degree of skill and sophistication.
Some countries which have had nukes for far longer have neither SLBMs nor ICBMs...
9
DPRK can get whatever they want and they have the skills to hack anyone.
Plus all they have to get is the toolset released by our American hiding out in Russia right now.
Recall Ed Snowdon?
3
Your assessment is incorrect. The North Koreans are some of the most prolific hackers on earth. They aren't the best of the best, but they are better than most.
6
Donald, did you ask the Iranians to drag up dirt on Biden too? It sounds like something you would do.
40
Trump will reap what he sows in this.
He has already made it perfectly clear that the US is open to election hacking and interference generally. Problem is, the Iranians might be more interested in some other candidates other than Trump and McConnell.
Think they might want to start investing in election security now? Or are they both willing to take their chances?
38
@avrds
This is what they want.
It gives them credible reasons to contest the election. They know they stand to lose big.
But if we already know the system is vulnerable and being attacked, the reasonable doubt already exists.
It's the 2000 election all over again.
Republicans have stacked the courts. They're making a sham of our Democracy.
3
Thank you Mr President and Moscow Mitch for protecting our elections!
402
@R This is satire, tight?
4
What's the big deal?
In 1953, Iran's democratic government was overthrown by the CIA. Iranian Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh had moved to nationalise the oil industry. But this was unacceptable to both the Brits and Americans who then engineered a joint coup.
In 1973, the CIA helped overthrow Salvador Allende, plunging Chile into years of military dictatorship. Allende, who headed a communist party had been elected democratically. While he adopted leftist economic policies, he fully respected to Chile's democratic constitution and norms, which he continued to adhere to. Unfortunately, the US could not digest that the fact that a communist had been popularly elected. Allende had also nationalised the country's copper industry, sparking protest from US-based multinationals.
How dare Iran and Chile exercise their sovereign right to control their own resources?
To put things in perspective, the Iranians have not overthrown a government in the US. Nor have they influenced an electoral process.
It's like the kettle calling the pot black.
48
How dare you bring history and facts into this!? No one wants to remember that. If we admit our past transgressions we can't spend taxpayers dollars on unnecessary military campaigns.
28
@Jack
Jack threw a rock at me. I threw a rock at Eddie. Eddie threw a rock at Frank. Is Jack responsible for Frank's injuries?
You speak some historical truths. Does that mean you think it is OK for other countries to meddle in our democracy?
9
This whole pot/kettle argument is bizarre.
There's no denying that the U.S. has interfered in other countries in the past. But that history has absolutely no bearing on the present necessity that our country protect itself against attack.
It's as if you calibrated the strength of your home alarm system to the guilt you felt about any transgressions you had committed in the past. "Do I deserve to keep burglars out, or should I just leave my door unlocked?" If a mugger were about to hit you, would you lower your arms and admit that you had once hurt someone in the past, thus destroying forever your own right of self-defense?
You don't have to be flag-waver to agree that the U.S. has an obligation and a right to protect itself against foreign attack, no matter what Trump says to the contrary.
13
"In July, Tom Burt, Microsoft’s corporate vice president, told an audience at the Aspen Security Conference that Microsoft had evidence that Russian, Iranian and North Korean hackers have been the most active nations conducting cyberattacks."
Somehow, I think US cyberattacks are most likely among the top four countries.
1
If they’re trying to hack the illegal Trump regime then they are trying to help America restore its democracy and I wish them well.
16
This could prove to be very interesting.
9
Until the convicted monopolist names names, I'll assume they're trying to sell their "security" software, and its attendant government backdoors, to all of the campaigns.
Said campaigns would be wise to consider the gnu and penguin instead.
4
Right, because Linux is invincible to all cyber attacks, including those coordinated by major foreign powers.
When Putin went unpunished, and there were few consequences for the POTUS, despite overwhelming circumstantial evidence that he is now a Russian asset, it's open season for foreigners trying to hack American elections. Next step, open season on Americans' private information, and the end of American democracy as we know it.
21
Reason why you should not use e-mail servers which run under Microsoft Windows. If the servers are not regularly patched, and secured properly, they can be hacked. There are literally thousands of exploits a hacker can use to compromise a Windows server.
On another note, if you do not want your e-mail exposed, it should be encrypted; there are a number of tools available for this.
As for this incident, while the hack came from Iran; the hackers probably had help from Russia or North Korea. Maybe even Ukraine or China.
Our so called "president" has made it open season on anyone who stands in his way, be it be presidential candidates or those investigating him.
As for me I blocked all IPs from Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea from even accessing my server and sending me e-mail. This can easily be done with firewalls on a server or at the router level. And, it can be automated bya simple script.
14
To be fair that's true of Linux systems as well. Every computer system needs regular security patches, and some exploits require hardware replacement.
4
So what did Trump promise Iran in return for hacking the email account of one of the presidential campaigns? Is it a coincidence that the time of this hacking a brand new Chinese-Ukrainian restaurant opened in Tehran?
11
According to the Trumplicans - there's absolutely nothing wrong with this.
88
Paper ballots with a trail and Election Day should be a paid holiday—those eligible to vote must vote or face a fine. Of course 'they' are going to find a way to hack into our systems, and if the Russians could do it, so can others---look at what we ended up with in 1600?
66
@Catherine One has the right to abstain from voting.
1
Based on Trump's words and actions it would be perfectly perfect if Pelosi had a perfect phone call with the Iranians to ask them to target Trump email accounts to find the missing emails between Trump and the Russians.
Perfectly perfect.
194
@Kelly No! Pelosi asking Iran to hack Trump's emails would be treason. It's only ok to ask foreign governments to interfere in US elections if you are the president! /sarcasm
22
@KH After all, Pelosi isn't really the Speaker anymore. Trump said so.
4
“The researchers said the hackers tried to attack 241 accounts and were successful in four cases, using fairly unsophisticated means. In those cases, the hackers appear to have used information available about their victims online to discover their passwords.”
Such as street addresses, names of kids, types of car they own, names of pets, favor sports teams?
The criteria for creating a strong unbreakable breakables password are very simple. It just boggles the mind to think that in this day and age, people with so much to lose are not paying attention.
17
My guess is they were targeting Trump. Watch the Republicans suddenly care about election interference now.
409
@Cloud Hunter It could go either way. Leverage against the democrats might get Trump to suddenly buddy up to Iran.
3
Who would I target if I were the Iranians? Biden was the veep for Obama, whose relationship with Iran was productive if tense. Sanders is a dove, Warren seems to be as well. The other Democrats aren't important enough to target. Did they get into Trump's emails?
32
@Keith - However, all of these countries understand that trump is far more disruptive and dangerous to our country than any of the Democrats would be. Just as in 2016 they are likelier to be helping him because they recognize the extent to which he is bringing our country down by devastating our federal government, destroying our institutional norms, etc. etc.
3
@Keith
"Dear Iran ... if you're listening, can you find Trump's tax returns and ..."
Perfectly normal and legal.
3
@Keith Trump doesn't do email, only Sharpies
2
Yet our president says he doesn't mind if the Russians interfere in our elections. We urgently need to elect a president and Congress willing to combat foreign meddling in our elections.
273
To @Isaac McDaniel: He didn't mind interference cause he won in 2016. It's also the case now toward his re-election bid cause winning by any means necessary is his MO including via. slander, lies, & smear tactics. Such behavior is in his DNA & he condones & encourages his minions to do thusly as well.
8
This is the new normal, foreign powers attacking our elections and election infrastructures through cyber warfare and disinformation warfare.
What makes this even worse is 40% of our country, Trump's loyal and unwavering GOP supporters, openly welcome to making Democrats lose by any means necessary. "Even if Trump asked Russian for help against Hillary, it was worth it and the right thing to do." So, we need to be vigilant to both foreign and domestic enemies of our constitution and democracy.
187
.
@John W,
.
Omg, whats the source of that "right thing to do" quote?
.
1
@John W
Heard the phrase that fish stink from the head? The biggest domestic enemy of our constitution and democracy brags about asking foreign governments to target his enemies.
19
@Ken Lewis
That is something a Republican on my street said to me while we were chatting this summer after Mueller's report was released. I've heard that sentiment echoed by other Republicans, so it's a sign that foreign interference to attack your Democratic opponent is something GOP voters now consider fair in politics.
14
“researchers said the hackers tried to attack 241 accounts and were successful in four cases, using fairly unsophisticated means. In those cases, the hackers appear to have used information available about their victims online to discover their passwords.”
At the very least, let this story is a good wake up call and a warning to safeguard one’s emails by using more sophisticated and complex passwords by NOT using personal information which has been posted or shared on social media sights.
48
@Marge Keller Seriously! One would think that a person running for president of the United States would have the intelligence to know better. It’s not as though these issues have not been hammered by the press ad nauseam.
10
@Marge Keller,
.
make pw's stronger by adding special characters [ @ % &, etc, ] and numbers; mix caps & lower case letters.
5
And secure those passwords on YOUR computer, with KeePass—NOT "CLOUD" PHONE "APPS".
1
Well, the WH occupant has once covertly and now overtly welcomed such actions against presidential candidates. Is this just more normalization of how the U.S. conducts its political campaigns? All I can say is impeach now or watch democracy die.
451
@Richard M. Braun
It may have been the Trump campaign. Microsoft did not disclose the target. He asked for it.
31
@Les
I’m sure we will be serious about investigating this one if it is republicans! Going to be very interesting to hear their going to war and invading strategy that will follow while ignoring the Mueller report.
4
.
@Richard M. Braun,
.
Very few Trump-isms can be normalized, altho he DOES lower the level of discourse to say the least.
.
I think even the GOP will be glad to get rid of the toxic embarrassment that Trump is,
altho most of em are too cowardly to openly oppose him
.
10