In light of a new DoJ indictment of Russian military intelligence members, Megan Reiss on Lawfare discusses the Russian tactics of disinformation dissemination in the age of cyberwarfare. I thought this was interesting:
Second, Russia is using highly effective methods to meet its objectives: cyberattacks and disinformation campaigns. As the indictment describes, the GRU utilized most of the cyber tools the organization has available to conduct a wide variety of attacks, from spear phishing to spoofing to distributed denial of service attacks. Some of their efforts appear sophisticated, such as masking identities, utilizing cryptocurrency and developing malware to steal information.
Yet the aspect of the indictment that should send shivers down the spines of Western officials is the revelation that Russian agents used Wi-Fi to conduct attacks. These were not merely hackers conducting operations from the comfort of their home country. When they couldn’t attack remotely, agents traveled to their victims and took advantage of the security risks of unencrypted networks, and using poorly secured hotel Wi-Fi to steal network information and hack into the targeted computers.
According to the indictment, hacked information was then released—sometimes after being altered—as part of a disinformation campaign by the “Fancy Bear Hack Team.” Fancy Bear targeted an estimated 116 reporters and tried to create a social-media campaign to distribute the message that Russia was unfairly targeted and that athletes from other states dope as well . As noted by FBI Cyber Division Deputy Assistant Director Eric Welling, this campaign targeted hundreds of clean athletes from almost 30 countries.
Everyone secured their WiFi systems?
But this reminds me of a report last night on NPR, of which this is probably the transcript, concerning an attempted infiltration of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Netherlands:
Dutch authorities escorted four Russian intelligence officers out of the country hours after the car they had rented was found parked near the OPCW’s building in The Hague, its trunk full of gear for hacking Wi-Fi networks. A large antenna was sitting on top of the equipment, which was on and running, using a battery that had been placed in the trunk.
The four officers had entered the Netherlands on diplomatic passports, according to the Dutch Defense Ministry, which said the British intelligence service had worked with it to disrupt the operation.
“This cyber operation against the OPCW is unacceptable,” said Dutch Defense Minister Ank Bijleveld. “By revealing this Russian action, we have sent a clear message: Russia must stop this.”
I do have to wonder or what? Shake their finger even more vigorously? Those Russian spies shouldn’t have been escorted out of the country, they should have been dumped in the local hoosgow and there they could cool their heels for fifteen years. They’d become an object lesson for other would-be spies about infiltration.
That result would get back to the Russian hackers who are employed doing this, and it might discourage a few of them. Perhaps the best ones. Leaving Russia with second-rate hackers.
Sure, Russia would apply various sorts of pressure on the Dutch, but if all you think about is the pressure and how terrible it is that your fossil fuels might be cut off, well, why are you playing in international politics anyways?
