—
This seems kind of important — lest anyone forget, in our haste to “Vote the Bums outs” ...
Russian Targeting of Election Infrastructure During the 2016 Election: Summary of Initial Findings and Recommendations
May 8, 2018
Overview
In 2016, cyber actors affiliated with the Russian Government conducted an unprecedented, coordinated cyber campaign against state election infrastructure. Russian actors scanned databases for vulnerabilities, attempted intrusions, and in a small number of cases successfully penetrated a voter registration database. [...]
o Almost all of the states that were targeted observed vulnerability scanning directed at their Secretary of State websites or voter registration infrastructure. Other scans were broader or less specific in their target.
o In at least six states, the Russian-affiliated cyber actors went beyond scanning and conducted malicious access attempts on voting-related websites.[2] In a small number of states, Russian-affiliated cyber actors were able to gain access to restricted elements of election infrastructure. In a small number of states, these cyber actors were in a position to, at a minimum, alter or delete voter registration data; however, they did not appear to be in a position to manipulate individual votes or aggregate vote totals.
Those “Voter-Registration intrusions” seem kind of important — especially when you consider “what kind of personal data” is available on the ‘Dark-web’ … that can be used to “supplement it” ...
Estimated 35 Million Voter Records For Sale on Popular Hacking Forum
October 15, 2018 | Anomali Labs
Anomali Labs researchers in close partnership with Intel 471, a leading cybercrime intelligence provider, have uncovered a widespread unauthorized information disclosure of US voter registration databases. To be clear, this voter information is made generally available to the public for legitimate uses. Anomali and Intel 471 researchers discovered dark web communications offering a large quantity of voter databases for sale. The databases include valuable personally identifiable information and voting history. The disclosure reportedly affects 19 states and includes 23 million records for just three of the 19 states. No record counts were provided for the remaining 16 states, but do include prices for each state. We estimate that the entire contents of the disclosure could exceed 35 million records. Researchers have reviewed a sample of the database records and determined the data to be valid with a high degree of confidence.
[...]
The voter records affect citizens of:
Georgia
Idaho
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Minnesota
Mississippi
Montana
New Mexico
Oregon
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming
Purportedly, these records contain voter data including full name, phone numbers, physical addresses, voting history, and other unspecified voting data.
Question: What in the world does your friendly international hacker (or Trump’s Bestie) need our voting history for?
Answer: How else will they know whose records to target for “random” bot-deletion. [Swing States shown in bold, above.]
— —
The Senate Intel Report was a follow-up study to this earth-shaking DNI Report:
Russian Interference helped to give us Trump in 2016. Lest anyone forget.
Office of the Director of National Intelligence, United States of America
ICA — Intelligence Community Assessment
We assess Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the US presidential election. Russia’s goals were to undermine public faith in the US democratic process, denigrate Secretary Clinton, and harm her electability and potential presidency. We further assess Putin and the Russian Government developed a clear preference for President-elect Trump.
We have high confidence in these judgments.
• We also assess Putin and the Russian Government aspired to help President-elect Trump’s election chances when possible by discrediting Secretary Clinton and publicly contrasting her unfavorably to him.
All three agencies agree with this judgment. CIA and FBI have high confidence in this judgment; NSA has moderate confidence.
And according Robert Mueller last Press Statement, Russian Interference is posed to give us Trump again in 2020. Their efforts are multiple and systematic. Their US Voting-system ‘Reconnaissance’ is locked and loaded in the GRU vault.
[...] Russian intelligence officers who were part of the Russian military launched a concerted attack on our political system.
The indictment alleges that they used sophisticated cyber techniques to hack into computers and networks used by the Clinton campaign. They stole private information, and then released that information through fake online identities and through the organization WikiLeaks. The releases were designed and timed to interfere with our election and to damage a presidential candidate.
And at the same time, as the grand jury alleged in a separate indictment, a private Russian entity engaged in a social media operation where Russian citizens posed as Americans in order to interfere in the election.
[...]
I will close by reiterating the central allegation of our indictments—that there were multiple, systematic efforts to interfere in our election.
That allegation deserves the attention of every American.
Thank you.
Meanwhile back on the alternate-reality ranch:
Donald Trump, at the Helsinki Summit, July 17, 2018:
"My people came to me, Dan Coats came to me and some others, they said they think it's Russia. I have President Putin; he just said it's not Russia. I will say this: I don't see any reason why it would be."
Trump's answer came in response to this question from the Associated Press' Jonathan Lemire: "Just now, President Putin denied having anything to do with the election interference in 2016. Every US intelligence agency has concluded that Russia did. What -- who -- my first question for you, sir, is who do you believe?"
[...]
"So I have great confidence in my intelligence people, but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today."
Donald Trump, at the G20 in Japan, June 28, 2019:
"Don't meddle in the election, president," Trump said in a joking manner to Putin as cameras clicked and reporters shouted questions. Wagging a finger at the Russian president, Trump repeated, "don't meddle in the election."
When an interpreter translated Trump's "request," Putin laughed.
Donald Trump, on White House lawn, June 26, 2019:
“Mr. President, will you speak to Russian president Vladimir Putin on not interfering in our elections?” a reporter asked.
“I’ll have a very good conversation with him,” Trump said. “What I say to him is none of your business.”
The stage is set.
Nothing will change.
Putin has been green-lighted by Trump.
And the Dems in Congress would rather just “let the people decide” what to do with the Bum.
—
What if, the People of 2020 are interfered with, in such a way — that it makes the 2016 success story, look like a small potatoes Trial-run?
Oh well, on to Plan C, I guess.
… Learn how to speak Russian, perhaps, as the Trump Great American Sell-out continues for at least another 4 years — full speed ahead.
— — —
Bye, bye … Blue wave. Putin’s preferred color is decidedly Red.
— —