One day after Donald Trump and the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin met in Hamburg to discuss in part, international cyber security, the Washington Post released a news story citing U.S. officials who claim the Russians hacked into our nuclear and power industries. Ellen Nakashima reports.
Russian government hackers were behind recent cyber-intrusions into the business systems of U.S. nuclear power and other energy companies in what appears to be an effort to assess their networks, according to U.S. government officials.
The U.S. officials said there is no evidence the hackers breached or disrupted the core systems controlling operations at the plants, so the public was not at risk. Rather, they said, the hackers broke into systems dealing with business and administrative tasks, such as personnel.
It’s hard not to question the statement, “so the public was not at risk.“ Especially with the following excerpt:
The campaign marks the first time Russian government hackers are known to have wormed their way into the networks of American nuclear power companies, several U.S. and industry officials said. And the penetration could be a sign that Russia is seeking to lay the groundwork for more damaging hacks.
Keep in mind: America’s top adversary in cyber security is Russia.
Nakashima goes on to write:
The malicious activity comes as President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday acknowledged “the challenges of cyberthreats” and “agreed to explore creating a framework” to better deal with them, including those that harm critical infrastructure such as nuclear energy, according to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in remarks to reporters. On Saturday, Putin told reporters that he and Trump agreed to set up a working group “on the subject of jointly controlling security in cyberspace.” Moscow has demonstrated how much damage it can do in other countries when it goes after energy systems.
So in essence, we have a president who has a hard time keeping his mouth shut when it comes to top-secret data, who’s now working with Putin who has not only hacked our 2016 elections, Russia has a long history of cyber-attacking other countries. Nakashima reports in December 2015, “Russian hackers disrupted the electric system in Ukraine, plunging 225,000 customers into darkness. Last December, they tested a new cyberweapon in Kiev, the Ukrainian capital, capable of disrupting power grids around the world.”
Congressman Eric Swalwell is a Ranking Member of the CIA Subcommittee of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Swalwell outlines how Russia have directed cyberattacks against foreign nations for the last 10 years, and he lists some of Russia’s “most egregious attacks” in this timeline below.
Yet the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) say there is no indication of a threat to public safety, because it appears the hacking was limited to administrative and business networks of the nuclear and power companies.
Do they think we all lack intelligence? Granted, if the FBI and DHS revealed a strong threat to public safety, and said the Russian hackers could possibly “influence” our nuclear facilities as well as our elections, Americans would most likely enter into a dangerous state of monumental panic. Trump and his administration would have the upper hand. But given we’re taking about Russian hacking, the odds are slim that would happen and it could actually further expose Trump’s buddy relationship with Putin. And as long as intelligence agencies and media outlets say there is nothing to worry about, many will take that as fact.
So what’s a country to do? Apparently, some think the solution is to send our U.S. Commander in Chief to an international conference to meet with the president of our country’s #1 cyber enemy to work on an international cyber security plan. Yeah, that’s the ticket.
And for the story’s clincher: The Washington Post piece mentions that Putin told the press at the G20 Summit that Trump was satisfied with his (Putin’s) election meddling denials. How nice. The person who has the most to gain from Russian meddling in our 2016 Elections is “satisfied” with Vladimir Putin’s denial of such. I guess we can finally close that chapter. How much more mind-boggling fuckery can this country continue to live under?
Read Ellen Nakashima’s full article here.
The solution? Join the Resistance via organizations like Indivisible, MoveOn.org, PlannedParenthoodAction, The Resistance Party, keep up with the news via New York Times, Washington Post, Salon, Daily Kos, Mother Jones, the Guardian, go to marches, rallies and town hall meetings, call Congress members, demand the Trump-Russia probe continues until we have answers and make sure, make absolutely sure our votes are counted and massive monitor systems are in place as soon as possible. If Russian hackers can attack our nuclear and power companies, our election machines, our political party emails, they can attack our votes. And without our votes, the same type of politicians and madness will continue for decades. Lastly, on a more positive note, remember, all tyrants—all tyrants, eventually fall due the people who show up, stand up, speak out, resist and persist.