I find the report of attempted Russian hacking of voting machines a lot more concerning than phishing attacks against the DNC. From NBC News:
Barely an hour after a news organization published an article about a Top Secret National Security Agency document on Russian hacking, the Justice Department announced charges against a 25-year-old government contractor who a senior federal official says was the leaker of the document.
The May 5, 2017 intelligence document published by The Intercept, an online news organization, describes new details about Russian efforts to hack voting systems in the U.S a week prior to the 2016 presidential election. While the document doesn’t say the hacking changed any votes, it “raises the possibility that Russian hacking may have breached at least some elements of the voting system, with disconcertingly uncertain results.”
I’m not linking to the “news organization” because I think that they acted improperly in publishing the story.
Note that there are multiple crimes here. The hacking was a crime and, if the Russian government was indeed involved, that should have consequences. I think that interference in the electoral process is wrong regardless of who does it, the Russians or us.
But the leaking, too, was a crime and that shouldn’t be ignored. Passionate indignation is no excuse for criminal wrongdoing.
I read the original report as well as the leaked document. It’s important to note that the original leaked document contains clear divides regarding what is confirmed information, what is analyst interpretation, and what is conjecture regarding motives. The “news organization” in question at least addes this disclaimer near the top of their piece:
“The NSA analysis does not draw conclusions about whether the interference had any effect on the election’s outcome and concedes that much remains unknown about the extent of the hackers’ accomplishments”
It’s interesting how the leaker was caught so quickly.
Think I have a comment in the spam queue, sorry.