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United States Democrats Government Security Politics

Report: Russian Hackers Phished The DNC And Clinton Campaign Using Fake Gmail Forms (buzzfeed.com) 435

Citing a report from SecureWorks, BuzzFeed is reporting that Russian hackers "used emails disguised to look as Gmail security updates to hack into the computers of the Democratic National Committee and members of Hillary Clinton's top campaign staff": The emails were sent to 108 members of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's campaign and 20 people clicked on them, at least four people clicking more than once, Secureworks' research found. The emails were sent to another 16 people from the DNC and four people clicked on them, the report said.

Researchers found the emails by tracing the malicious URLs set up by [state-sponsored hacking group] Fancy Bear using Bitly, a link shortening service... "We were monitoring bit.ly and saw the accounts being created in real time," said Phil Burdette, a senior security researcher at SecureWorks, explaining how they stumbled upon the the URLs set up by Fancy Bear.

The URL apparently resolved to accounts-google.com (rather than accounts.google.com), and Burdette says "They did a great job with capturing the look and feel of Google."
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Report: Russian Hackers Phished The DNC And Clinton Campaign Using Fake Gmail Forms

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  • LOL (Score:5, Funny)

    by Dunbal ( 464142 ) * on Sunday October 16, 2016 @11:44PM (#53088401)
    Using bit.ly. Oh the IRONY that the .ly TLD could somehow be involved in taking down Hillary Clinton.
  • by Nova Express ( 100383 ) <lawrenceperson.gmail@com> on Sunday October 16, 2016 @11:47PM (#53088411) Homepage Journal

    A few points on this alleged story:

    1. The Clinton campaign desperately trying to distract attention away from Hillary's fundamental dishonesty [battleswarmblog.com].
    2. Maybe the story is true, and the Clinton campaign hires people with the security acumen of a burned-out toaster.
    3. Buzzfeed? Really?
    4. Maybe they figure if they keep yelling "Trump is a Putin pawn!" enough we'll ignore the fact that Podesta is a registered lobbyist for Putin's bank [battleswarmblog.com].

    There's one candidate in this race who has a proven record of taking money for favors from Russian sources, and it isn't Trump [nytimes.com].

    • You think Clinton's campaign is feeling desperate? Vegas is paying out 6-1 on Trump presidency, but you know better, don't you?
    • by Rei ( 128717 ) on Monday October 17, 2016 @12:16AM (#53088517) Homepage

      So let me get this straight. Don't trust Buzzfeed. Instead, trust "Battle Swam Blog". Got it.

      Re, the "uranium deal" thing: false [politifact.com] and false [factcheck.org]. Meanwhile, Trump chose as his campaign manager Paul Manafort, a consultant to Yanukovitch (including being earmarked for over $12m in payments from a slush fund uncovered after Yanukovitch fled), his foreign policy advisor (Carter Page) works (present tense) for Gazprom, one of Trump's sons talked about his father having to focus on loans from Russia when he couldn't get them from the US, and how heavily they rely on Russian investment, Trump Soho turned out in court to be a money laundering organization for Russian criminals (Trump followed up by hiring its principal partner into the Trump organization), Trump bragged during a meeting in Russia that “Almost all of the oligarchs were in the room” just to meet with him, numerous Trump businesses have been financed by Russian oligarchs, Trump has repeatedly called Putin a great leader, both in isolation (without comparison to other US leaders), and in comparison to not only Obama, but Bush as well; Trump advisors intervened in the Republican Party platform on precisely one issue, that being to weaken references to supporting Ukraine; Trump claims that Russian troops aren't in Ukraine, and has endorsed Russia's Syria policy. Not to mention thinks NATO is obsolete. Oh, and whole "we don't know who did the hack, maybe it was China, maybe it was a 400 pound guy in his bedroom" line? He had already been given an intelligence briefing where US officials explicitly told him it was Russia. And then there's his knack for getting ahold of Russian propaganda faster than anyone else, like when he walked into a rally waving around a report on Clinton that had only been published (and later retracted) by Sputnik International.

      For all your propaganda that's too bad even for Russian propaganda outlets to push, Trump has your back.

      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        by Anonymous Coward

        OH SHIT. Politifact calls it false. If a Democrat newspaper pretending to be an impartial fact checker says so, then you know it must be true.

        Remember Politifact labeling "If you like your doctor you can keep your doctor" the Lie of the Year? What they don't tell you is that they used to call it "true". Then they later changed it to "half true". Only after it became completely indefensible did they finally turn on it.

        • by khallow ( 566160 ) on Monday October 17, 2016 @01:14AM (#53088715)
          Fortunately, someone remembered [blogspot.com]:

          Research led me far afield and I uncovered this gem from PolitiFact in its Pulitzer Prize-winning year of 2008. It rated as TRUE Obama's statement at the October 7, 2008, "If you've got a health care plan that you like, you can keep it."

          Five years later, only after Obama was safely elected and re-elected did PolitiFact name that claim the Lie of the Year of 2013 -- even though it dated back to 2008.

          Before [politifact.com] and after [politifact.com]. Same journalist wrote both and no apology for the earlier, "fact check" or the about face on the claim.

      • by ooloorie ( 4394035 ) on Monday October 17, 2016 @01:48PM (#53092753)

        Re, the "uranium deal" thing: false and false

        Politifact is saying that it hasn't been strictly proven that Clinton actually engaged in pay-for-play. There is no question that the Clinton foundation received the money while Clinton was SoS. I consider that deeply corrupt by itself. You're free to disagree.

        Factcheck gets hung up on the fact that Trump said that the State Department had "veto power", which technically only the president has. They acknowledge that State Department approval was required. The fact that approval was required makes the charge of corruption even stronger, because the State Department didn't merely let the deal through through inaction, the State Department actively had to consider the deal and come to a decision. The fact that Factcheck gets this so wrong tells you only one thing: Factcheck's judgments cannot be trusted at all.

        So let me get this straight. Don't trust Buzzfeed. Instead, trust "Battle Swam Blog". Got it.

        Personally, I don't trust anyone; I think for myself and check the facts. I suggest you start doing the same instead of rattling off a litany of talking points.

    • Click on the first link, it's the actual report from SecureWorks [secureworks.com]
      Their evidence is that Russian hackers have, in the past, built Gmail spoofing pages to spearphish people in Ukraine/etc. Because Russians have done a similar campaign before, they assume this is Russians again. They are moderately confident that it is Russian agents. (They leave it ambiguous whether it is state-sponsored or not).
      • by AHuxley ( 892839 )
        Yes scroll down to get what is
        "Moderate confidence generally means that the information is credibly sourced and plausible but not of sufficient quality or corroborated sufficiently to warrant a higher level of confidence."
        More terms like "credibly sourced" and "plausible"?
    • by Black Parrot ( 19622 ) on Monday October 17, 2016 @12:36AM (#53088595)

      Respected Avatar or NPC,

      We notice that you are vigorously trying to overcorrect for your simulation's liberal bias. If you are unhappy in your simulation you can submit petition KB3035583 to request being moved to another simulation with a different bias.

      Sincerely,
      The Operators

    • CTU researchers assess with moderate confidence that the group is operating from the Russian Federation and is gathering intelligence on behalf of the Russian government

      More wild guessing based off of limited information and guestimation.

    • A few points on this alleged story:

      1. The Clinton campaign desperately trying to distract attention away from Hillary's fundamental dishonesty [battleswarmblog.com].

      True, but so is Trump trying desperately trying to distrac this negative aspects. Desperately trying to distract is a key skill of all politicians.

      2. Maybe the story is true, and the Clinton campaign hires people with the security acumen of a burned-out toaster.

      Not Clinton, the DNC. And yes they probably do just like the Republicans and Independents do too. Any sufficiently large organisation will have numpties among their numbers. even the CIA, KGB, NSA, DoD etc have numpties. This is not unusual.

      3. Buzzfeed? Really?

      Pass

      4. Maybe they figure if they keep yelling "Trump is a Putin pawn!" enough we'll ignore the fact that Podesta is a registered lobbyist for Putin's bank [battleswarmblog.com].

      There's one candidate in this race who has a proven record of taking money for favors from Russian sources, and it isn't Trump [nytimes.com].

      Registered and disclosed. Do you see how it works now?

      • by meta-monkey ( 321000 ) on Monday October 17, 2016 @09:37AM (#53090221) Journal

        Not Clinton, the DNC

        Doesn't Podesta work for Hillary, not the DNC? Were his emails stored with the DNC? I thought it was her campaign that was hacked/leaked also.

        Registered and disclosed. Do you see how it works now?

        No, I don't. What's different?

        Also, how does that make it okay? We've got leaked Podesta emails yelling "Take the money!!!!" from people linked to Russia, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and other awful places, funneled through properly registered and disclosed agents. How does being bought by fucking Saudi Arabia and Qatar become okay just because it's legal? I care about the "being bought by Saudi Arabia and Qatar" part. Whether it was done by legal accounting legerdemain or sacks of cash in a DC parking garage at 3am is irrelevant.

        I would say we need to change the laws to make any money sourced from overseas illegal to be used in campaigning, but I don't think it would matter. Hillary breaks election and campaign finance laws with impunity and will never be prosecuted. We are in a post-legal state.

  • by 93 Escort Wagon ( 326346 ) on Sunday October 16, 2016 @11:53PM (#53088425)

    Frankly I'm surprised we don't see this technique used more often.

    • by arth1 ( 260657 )

      It would be nice if people checked URLs before clicking them, but...

      Good web browsers should warn whenever a main URL is redirected to a different SLD, show the new URL, and require the user to check a box "Yes, I understand that this can be dangerous" and hit Continue before redirecting.

  • The most amusing bit about the democrats response isn't the fact they aren't screaming "LIES!" It's the fact that they are pointing at Russia and yelling "Those dicks did that!"

    My guess is that if the defense is true - she pissed them off with the reset button!

    http://www.theblaze.com/storie... [theblaze.com]

    Or not.

    According to that she was in bed with Putin.

    that does ignore this book

    http://www.penguinrandomhouse.... [penguinrandomhouse.com]

    Which tells where the "reset button" was swiped from.

    It amazes me that people forget that hillary reset rela

    • Re: (Score:2, Offtopic)

      by s.petry ( 762400 )

      Was she a complete failure back then? Or is she lying now?

      What is "both"?

      now tell me about what I win Alex!

    • The most amusing bit about the democrats response isn't the fact they aren't screaming "LIES!"

      I know, right? The "hacks" have been astonishingly ineffective. They've not published lies, and they've not published any truths which are remotely damning. So... what's left.

      It's the fact that they are pointing at Russia and yelling "Those dicks did that!"

      So, Russia is hacking stuff to try to influence the US election and the fact that people are annoyed by that is amusing? I don't really understand your reasoni

  • incorrect (Score:2, Informative)

    by Swampash ( 1131503 )

    That's not "using fake emails to hack into the computers of the Democratic National Committee" That's "using hack emails to trick gullible staff members".

    Without gullible staff members the computers would have been secure.

    • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Without gullible staff members there would be no democratic party leadership.

    • The emails were sent to 108 members of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's campaign and 20 people clicked on them

      and why the 88 non-clickers didn't warn the 20 clickers is beyond me.

      • by Calydor ( 739835 )

        Because they thought that in 2016 it was common sense to not click random unsolicited links.

  • by JWW ( 79176 ) on Monday October 17, 2016 @12:04AM (#53088463)

    It's kind of scary that the people who want to be elected to run the branch of government that is in charge of implementing cyber security are such a bunch of damn clueless morons about it.

    I mean there are high schoolers who would do better securing and safeguarding their emails than this crew...

    Heh, who's the JV team?

  • by argStyopa ( 232550 ) on Monday October 17, 2016 @12:06AM (#53088473) Journal

    From the article:
    "researchers assess with moderate confidence that the group is operating from the Russian Federation and is gathering intelligence on behalf of the Russian government"

    I know it fits the playbook to simply call them "Russian Hackers" but hey, maybe...journalism instead?

    • by quantaman ( 517394 ) on Monday October 17, 2016 @03:28AM (#53089029)

      From the article:
      "researchers assess with moderate confidence that the group is operating from the Russian Federation and is gathering intelligence on behalf of the Russian government"

      I know it fits the playbook to simply call them "Russian Hackers" but hey, maybe...journalism instead?

      Did you read the rest of the article, and the buzzfeed article as well?

      First the group has been going after Russia's enemies for years, including Georgia, Ukraine, Poland, and Germany. This suggests the group is very pro-Russian.

      Second the group has used multiple zero-day exploits in its attacks, which strongly suggests a state actor. Not only because getting zero-day exploits is really hard, but zero day exploits are also very valuable, and the described hacks only really had significant value to the Russian government.

      I'm not sure why SecureWorks is hedging so much, but the hacks being orchestrated by the Russian government seems extremely likely.

  • The left-leaning Buzzfeed staff needs to stick to what they do best.....making videos about Britons eating American snacks.

  • by Kythe ( 4779 ) on Monday October 17, 2016 @12:40AM (#53088607)
    As long as they were using Gmail in the first place, enabling 2 factor authentication, with the second factor being a U2F key like an inexpensive Yubikey, would have gone a ling ways towards preventing this,
  • by Snufu ( 1049644 ) on Monday October 17, 2016 @12:53AM (#53088665)

    and have never had any security proble...Slashdot is decadent. Comrade, why not visit sunny Moscow and rub lucky chest of King Putin?

  • Why was Accounts-google.com registered to Google inc, 1600 Ampitheatre Parkway at least as far back as 2013? http://www.domainhistory.net/a... [domainhistory.net] and via MarkMonitor https://www.markmonitor.com/ [markmonitor.com] which "protects the leading brands". YAN has been laughing about this all day. Didn't anyone bother to check any of this??

  • by NewtonsLaw ( 409638 ) on Monday October 17, 2016 @02:29AM (#53088883)

    I hope all Americans realize that the rest of the world is dumbfounded that Clinton and Trump are supposedly the best candidates for the presidency of your great nation.

    Surely not.

    You are all lost!

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      I hope all Americans realize that the rest of the world is dumbfounded that Clinton and Trump are supposedly the best candidates for the presidency of your great nation.

      A lot of us Americans share your disbelief. Personally, I could really go for a repeal of the twenty-second amendment right about now...

      • Obama isn't any better. Every one of his promises he has failed to live up to. And the ones that he has kept have been disastrous. He makes GWB look competent.

        That, and to the GP post, the best candidates do not run, because of the trashing by the other party is pretty nasty. The " ______ kills kittens and eats babies" tactic works, unless you put up candidates like Hillary and Donald, which create their own versions which happen to be true, or close to being true, that we just are trying to avoid the worst

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