Concluding an thorough limited review of grounds , the Associated Presspresenteda muscular fount Thursday sunup that further draw the perpetrator of the DNC rupture to a Kremlin - direct plot .
For eight week , AP reporters pored over a database of or so 4,700 Gmail accounts targeted by the hacker who also leaked more than two thousand secret files last yr , stolen from the Democratic National Committee . The findings , which build onnumerouspriorreports — including those of the certificate investigator whosucceededin tracking the threat — sustain once again the existence of a covert operation that , for at least more than a year , take at compromising top adversary of President Vladimir Putin .
The cybersecurity firm Secureworksdisclosedthe link between the cyberpunk targeting the Democrats and an immense phishing cause in June 2016 , roughly 48 hr after The Washington Post first report the fateful falling out at Democratic Party central office . By then , the attackers had been identified by the cybersecurity house CrowdStrike , which was hired by the DNC , as an “ advanced persistent threat”—a terminus applied to furtive and advanced cyber-terrorist capable to infiltrate a system and stay undetected for an extended geological period of time .
Secureworks calls them Group-4127 , but today CrowdStrike ’s moniker — Fancy Bear — is the most widely known . They are also screw by the names APT 28 , Pawn Team , Sednit , Sofacy , Tsar Team , and Strontium .
What they are called is of little grandness . In the wilderness , they are distinguished alone by the weapon and techniques they employ ; an regalia of malware and exploit tools believe the group ’s stylemark . This is how CrowdStrike set that a 2nd threat , which it knight Cozy Bear , was also present in the DNC ’s servers . And while it appeared the two groups were operating independently , neither mindful of the other ’s activities , US authorisation provided them with a unmarried name : Grizzly Steppe .
DNC hackers targeted hundreds of prominent US officials
The Secureworks research — confirmation of which the AP tasked to a team of six reporters — reveal that between March 2015 and May 2016 , Fancy Bear conducted a broad operation targeting 575 Gmail account in the US alone . Those accounts belonged to fourth-year State and intelligence officials , defense contractor employee , and high up - ranking US military police officer , among other political figures , include then - Secretary of State John Kerry and former Secretary of State Colin Powell .
More than 130 popular party and campaign staffers reportedly were targeted — several top Clinton political advisor among them — yet only a handful of Republicans .
Further , according to the AP , the group chose for attack at least 545 Gmail accounts belonging to Ukrainians , let in those of President Petro Poroshenko and his son , a half dozen current and former ministers , and as many as two dozen current and former lawgiver . In Russia , it was a proverbial who ’s who among Putin ’s foes : investigatory reporters and media figure decisive of the administration , activists , organizer , anti - corruption campaigners .
Maria Alyokhina of the anti - Putinist punk rock striation Pussy Riot course made the cutting .
The AP referred to the database of Fancy Bear targets using the term “ digital smasher tilt . ” After review the data , a muckle of Russian experts hold ; combine , the finicky butt only make sensation in the context of a roster of individuals whom , as one expert put forth , “ Russia would care to spy on , embarrass , discredit or silence . ”
‘Hit list’ was found after the hackers made a careless mistake
The origin of the database traces back more than two class to ongoing Secureworks research into Fancy Bear ’s phishing campaigns . In the past , the hackers have used links to bogus Google account login pages , sent to dupe in phony , but realistic - attend email messages , to clutch certification and gain unauthorized access to outstanding figures ’ Gmail accounts .
But somewhere , somehow , Fancy Bear fucked up : The group had been using multiple Bitly accounts to shorten malicious uniform resource locator — and on some , they had apparently bury to activate the privateness setting . After Secureworks discovered the Bitly accounts , they quietly supervise the mathematical group , surveillance which allowed them to hoard a huge database of the hackers ’ targets . According to the AP , the database eventually grew to roughly 19,000 malicious links target 4,700 unique account .
Among those on the hit list is Ukrainian journalist and politician Serhiy Leshchenko , who spearheaded an investigation into million of dollar bill in secret immediate payment allegedly given by a pro - Russian Ukrainian party to Paul Manafort , the former Trump drive chairman whose exalted panel indictment was foretell this week and includes , among other charges , “ confederacy to wash money ” and “ failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts . ”
The report’s timing couldn’t be worse for Trump
The AP report comes the same calendar week that charges were announce against three Trump campaign officials , including Manafort and his business familiar Rick Gates , who have both plead not shamed . Trump advisor George Papadopoulos , who has claim the campaign gibe to a model - down between Putin and Trump , pleaded guilty after he was caught lying to Union factor , a felony that carry up to a five yr prison condemnation . What ’s more , Facebook , Google , and Twitter have spent the retiring two days on Capitol Hill , responding to lawmakers ’ question over Russian - buy propaganda that pervade societal media throughout the election .
While the US Intelligence Community has put forward that the Kremlin , backed by an army of hackers and trolls , labour on behalf of the Trump crusade , engrossed on keeping Hillary Clinton out of the White House , these are accusations Moscow has vehemently denied . This June , President Putin even floated the idea that perhaps some “ patriotically given ” cyber-terrorist need it upon themselves to bear out the attacks .
President Trump , meanwhile , has characterized the allegations of collusion between his effort and Kremlin functionary as part of the “ single greatest witch hunt of a politician in American chronicle . ” Continually attacking the press for a year now , and even at one decimal point comparing his own intelligence service agenciesto Nazis , Trump has painted every inquiry into Russian election incumbrance as the fantasies of vengeful Democrats and of a biased liberal media , whom he exact are exclusively motivated to degrade the legitimacy of his presidentship .
[ Associated Press ]
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