I was laughing the moment I saw the Washington Post headline story Russian hackers penetrated U.S.electricity grid through a utility in Vermont.
I did not touch the story because I thought it was BS. And it was.
Glen Greenwald at the Intercept has the details in Russia Hysteria Infects WashPost Again: False Story About Hacking U.S. Electric Grid.
The Washington Post on Friday reported a genuinely alarming event: Russian hackers have penetrated the U.S. power system through an electrical grid in Vermont. The Post headline conveyed the seriousness of the threat.
The Post article contained grave statements from Vermont officials of the type politicians love to issue after a terrorist attack to show they are tough and in control.
Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy issued a statement warning: “This is beyond hackers having electronic joy rides – this is now about trying to access utilities to potentially manipulate the grid and shut it down in the middle of winter. That is a direct threat to Vermont and we do not take it lightly.”
The media reactions, as Alex Pfeiffer documents, were exactly what one would expect: hysterical, alarmist proclamations of Putin’s menacing evil.
The Post’s story also predictably and very rapidly infected other large media outlets. Reuters thus told its readers around the world: “A malware code associated with Russian hackers has reportedly been detected within the system of a Vermont electric utility.”
What’s the problem here? It did not happen.
There was no “penetration of the U.S. electricity grid.” The truth was undramatic and banal. Burlington Electric, after receiving a Homeland Security notice sent to all U.S. utility companies about the malware code found in the DNC system, searched all their computers and found the code in a single laptop that was not connected to the electric grid.
Apparently, the Post did not even bother to contact the company before running its wildly sensationalistic claims, so they had to issue their own statement to the Burlington Free Press which debunked the Post’s central claim.
So the key scary claim of the Post story – that Russian hackers had penetrated the U.S. electric grid – was false. All the alarmist tough-guy statements issued by political officials who believed the Post’s claim were based on fiction.
Even worse, there is zero evidence that Russian hackers were responsible even for the implanting of this malware on this single laptop. The fact that malware is “Russian-made” does not mean that only Russians can use it; indeed, like a lot of malware, it can purchased (as Jeffrey Carr has pointed out in the DNC hacking context, assuming that Russian-made malware must have been used by Russians is as irrational as finding a Russian-made Kalishnikov AKM rifle at a crime scene and assuming the killer must be Russian).
Stunning Stupidity
Glen Greenwald has a series of links and tweets proving the stunning stupidity of the Washington Post. Here are a couple of them.
This matters not only because one of the nation’s major newspaper once again published a wildly misleading, fear-mongering story about Russia. It matters even more because it reflects the deeply irrational and ever-spiraling fever that is being cultivated in U.S. political discourse and culture about the threat posed by Moscow.
The Post has many excellent reporters and smart editors. They have produced many great stories this year. But this kind of blatantly irresponsible and sensationalist tabloid behavior – which tracks what they did when promoting that grotesque PropOrNot blacklist of U.S. news outlets accused of being Kremlin tools – is a by-product of the Anything Goes mentality that now shapes mainstream discussion of Russia.
The level of group-think, fear-mongering, coercive peer-pressure, and über-nationalism has not been seen since the halcyon days of 2002 and 2003. Indeed, the very same people who back then smeared anyone questioning official claims as Saddam sympathizers or stooges and left-wing un-American loons are back for their sequel, accusing anyone who expresses any skepticism toward claims about Russia of being Putin sympathizers and Kremlin operatives and stooges.
Those interested in a sober and rational discussion of the Russia hacking issue should read the following:
- Three posts by cyber-security expert Jeffery Carr: first, on the difficulty of proving attribution for any hacks; second, on the irrational claims on which the “Russia-hacked-the-DNC” case is predicated; and third, on the woefully inadequate, evidence-free report issued by the Department of Homeland Security and FBI this week to justify sanctions against Russia.
- Yesterday’s Rolling Stone article by Matt Taibbi, who lived and worked for more than a decade in Russia, entitled: “Something About this Russia Story Stinks.”
- An Atlantic article by David A. Graham on the politics and strategies of the sanctions imposed this week on Russia by Obama; I disagree with several of his claims but the article is a rarity: a calm, sober, rational assessment of this debate.
Fake News Irony
Mike “Mish” Shedlock
American Mushrooms – “keep ’em in the dark, feed them sh*t!”
All Anti-Trump. Ginned up by Obama and the Democrats.
I was reading that the grids were hacked decade ago…by the Chinese! Why is this news anyway. Another reason why Obama is being a knucklehead and antagonizing countries that can do serious damage. FAKE or STALE NEWS. And we can hack theirs. And Anonymous can hack everything. Big goddamn deal
I’m sure the Neocons–who have a long ethnic grudge against the Russians–have played a part in this, and have deployed their attack dogs McCain and Graham.
If you put the following words into the right sequence, you get to the truth of the matter: oligarchs, vendetta, Russian, neocons, Putin, jail, mafia.
Anti-Trump FAKE NEWS, ginned up by Obama and Hillary and the DNC and the Main-Stream Media (ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC, NY Times, NPR, PBS, WaPo, etc).
Main-Stream Media = Democrat Party = ORGANIZED CRIME … !!!!!!
Gee, I wonder why Stuxnet didn’t get honorable mention? Oops forgot, that was a US/Israel creation.
Someone broke into my house and left a bottle of Russian vodka on the table. Putin did it…
So freaking funny
Thanks
WaPo, formerly one of the nation’s greatest newspapers, has become a sick joke since Bozos bought it. I’m surprised the good reporters and editors have not all quit yet, they should be embarrassed to work there.
Same seems to happen with a lot of media, attract an audience then piss on them.
This guy lives in Vermont and covers the news quite extensively. This is one guy you should bookmark…. he nailed the election results better than anyone else.
Styxhexenhammer666 lives in Vermont?……wow it must be fun commmiserating with all the feelitbernz losers.
He supported Trump.
That guy is pretty cool, but remember, it’s Vermont. Those voters made Howard Dean governor and sent Bernie Sanders to the Senate and those were their sensible moments.
It’s on BBC as ‘fact’. The oft repeated lie……
2+2=5
2+2=5
Square root of x squared is not always equal to x.
http://math.stackexchange.com/questions/775273/contradiction-prove-22-5
And Obama hacked the Iranian centrifuges…
Hey, they just caught the guy !
http://img03.deviantart.net/d837/i/2010/345/a/8/russian_electrician_by_jesperoscarsson-d34ob9d.jpg
Moya ushanka! Pizdyetz!!!!
It seems quite likely that the Fakestream Media has nothing left but lying like its master the government.
The name of the totally incompetent journalistic failures at Washington Post who wrote the latest WashingtonPost fake news story are Juliet Eilperin and Adam Entous.
.
A responsible news media would fire both of them on the spot after the total incompetence and failing to do even basic journalistic checks they have shown.
When there is a claim of “hacking” a responsible journalist would contact the company that was supposedly hacked, contact the regulator of the company and interview the boss of the company and the regulator.
Washington Post is now as credible as Weekly World News and their stories of bat kids found in a cave…
More NeoCohen warmongering…That’s what they do best….
Trader Joe, zat you?
The clueless “journalist” who wrote the Washington Post fake news story claiming other news medias are russian propaganda outlets based on the shoddy and anonymous PropOrNot list is called Craig Timberg.
Several responsible medias chose NOT to publish the PropOrNot claims because they saw it was a shoddy anonymous list without any proof and with just sketchy and malicious reasoning.
Craig Timberg took the PropOrNot bait of lies eagerly and tought he would make a big name for himself as a journalist.
Craig Timberg is a laughing stock among serious and FACT CHECKING journalists.
Timberg has a side pursuit of increasing media revenue
http://jsk.stanford.edu/journalism-challenges/2016/finding-reasons-to-be-optimistic-about-the-future-of-foreign-news-coverage/
Why WaPo seems to have been a/the launch pad for the ‘fake news’ buzz is another story, but it seems to have caught on surprisingly well with some other media too…
A nice link. Shows the poor caliber of journalism students, that despite post-grad work at Stanford they cannot even properly report a simple story when they get a real job. Says even worse about the editorial chair butt warmers collecting paychecks at the WaPo, signing off on stories that would garner negative grades from an elementary school English teacher.
But I can see why the guy was hired as a reporter by a money-losing newspaper (WaPo), as he has a rare interest in the money-making side of the Propaganda Business (dba News). If this propaganda earns the WaPo money above what they pay the guy, whether the money is under the table from the CIA and War Party operatives or circulation and advertising, it will no doubt be deemed a successful hire. The WaPo is to Real News what Twinkies and Sugar Cubes are to Nutritious Whole Grains.
Yes.
“Through business school classes, interviews with news industry executives and other independent research, Timberg has sought to discover financially viable ways to protect and eventually expand global news coverage in the United States and beyond…….
In 2009, he became the paper’s education editor — accepting his boss’ challenge to take an entrepreneurial approach to the job. He led his team in rethinking coverage and developing digital strategies to sustain and support the coverage. In less than two years, online education readership tripled, generating enough advertising revenue to support the team.”
http://jsk.stanford.edu/fellows/class-of-2016/craig-timberg/
Protecting American news coverage should start with its integrity… have seen too many good outlets turn to crap. Really makes you wonder what format mainstream will be in a few years time though, sure he knows better than we do the audience he has as target.
“discover financially viable ways to protect and eventually expand global news coverage in the United States and beyond”
Global news (propaganda) expansion fits in nicely with Neo-con vision of America being the ruling global power. “Protect” may mean “protecting your turf” by outlawing competing outlets (the list of 200). If you can herd everyone to the few remaining sites and slap them with a mandatory reading fee, which international trade treaties might have done, then Cha-ching big time.
BTW, before selling money-losing newspaper assets to Bezos, WaPo owners carved off the profitable educational division into a separate company. Selling propaganda and textbooks to schools is a hugely profitable business, as most states award K-12 textbook monopolies to publishers. At state level, Education = Indoctrination; i.e. Politics. WaPo reporter is a political operative, pure and simple, and a perfect fit for a Propaganda Outlet like WaPo. Only way WaPo can turn a profit from this is indirectly via Neo-con Reward System. So, needs deep pockets of Bezos to survive.
Jeff Bezos has a lot to protect seeing that Trump wants to break up Amazon with an antitrust suit. Jeff Bezos will publish anything the Washington lobbyists and supporting government tell them to.
Bezos is a good Investment Banker, doing what is in the Best Interests of His Clients and Himself. Plus he has an indispensable quality for running a money-losing newspaper, Deep Pockets.
His Handlers are no doubt pleased with his lack of standards. Perfect for running a Propaganda Mill, and stirring up contract business for the military-security-intel sector of the economy and those in government desiring a more totalitarian state. You need Deep Pockets and a Thin Morality to do this. Investment Banker Hall of Fame material.
And he has a “restore point” built into his whole empire that they can bring him down if he suddenly decides to go against any whim of “his owners” . It seems to be how PizzaGate is being used to keep key people in line.
Washington Post, or Washington POS? Amirite?
Washington Compost – Mark Dice’s take…
This is a backfired attempt to get clicks by cramming something into the narrative
I think that this exposes the media’s misunderstanding of the distinction between internet crime and state-sponsored espionage. The truth is that much of the world’s internet crime comes from Russians. We’re talking about the kind of phishing attacks on Podesta’s e-mail and the email of millions of Americans. We’re talking about the breaching of corporate POS systems.
Note that I said Russians and not the Russian Federation. In his books on the topic, internet security guru Michael Krebs covers the shady relationship between internet criminals and the local government officials. But what I and the rest of the public do not know is whether a relationship between those criminals and the Russian state intelligence agencies exists, and to what extent the two work together.
In short, every time the media uses “the Russians,” it makes an improper generalization. Was the malware on this laptop in Vermont Russian in origin? So is the malware on millions of laptops. That doesn’t necessarily mean that the “attack” is state-sponsored.
Makes one if there is some truth to all these conspiracy theories that Obama is trying to plant a false flag to remain in power as the hits just keep coming day after day from the media and our favorite admin officials and the neocons.
Gives me the creeps thinking about.
Congress has continued to push the old agenda and worse going into the new administration. I think Trump is going to have huge problems going forward. Don’t like some of his plans anyway, especially the Infrastructure scheme, and he seems to be backing off big time on the immigration problems, ect. Maybe Michael Rivero was right… move to Finca Bay, Panama.
http://www.fincabayano.net/
Will some Russians please hack the stupid Washington Post and put them out of their fake news misery.
In 1939 Hitler had excellent evidence of a Polish attack on a German radio station: well, excellent by current US standards anyway.
Was it an NBC affiliate? That would explain a lot.
South China Morning Post used to be a reliable outlet before it was bought by another billionaire, Jack Ma. E.g. when the PC British press referred to Rotherham rapers as Asian, SCMP took exception to such a broad brush, and identified them as Pakistani.
Just clicked. As climate change is a transnational endeavour, refugees are a matter for humanity, so the non labeling of perpetrators by nationality or religion is becoming a global endeavour at the creation of the universal civilian where all vestige of traditional influence is stripped off to reveal a being having been subject to imposed traits and of untrained tendency. We might like to think there is a level of humiliation in this approach, and there is, but we forget that we are condoning this perspective for use on ourselves in the act, that is to say we accept being blank sheets upon which our being may be written, and rewritten, by authority. Maybe one day people will wish to hide their nationality out of shame, and religion will become a mere quirk that is accepted in tolerance, and at that point we will know that we have mastered our own unity behind a single totalitarian concept, always lost and free only to be told.
All of these Russian hacking stories, in order to deflect from the truth that the main stream media colluded with the Hillary campaign to get a pied piper candidate nominated by the Republican Party, in order to assist her in defeating him in the national election.
The mainstream media interfered in our election.
Fakenstein
Sorry, I’m going to have to borrow that!……
‘Sincerest form of flattery’ and all that, you know…..
These WaPo stories serve a useful function, setting the “agenda” for the other Propaganda outlets (dba as News) that then spin more permutations on the false narrative that becomes set in stone as “consensus” (of the media) textbook fact.
Over lunch at my favorite Chinese fast food wok eatery with the big screen on the wall tuned to CNN (shades of Orwell’s big brother), the WaPo Vermont utility hack story was cited as “Established, Unquestionable Fact” to kickoff CNN “news.” First experts saying how the USA utility system was unacceptably threatened by Russia. Then, asking James Woolsey, a former CIA director under Clinton, whether by his statements Trump had been “turned” by Russian agents. Woolsey, more talented than his crude CNN questioners, to his credit tiptoed around that one very deftly. Next segment after the commercial was straight out of the McCarthy era archives of the 1950s: A warning about Russian secret agents in our midst being more numerous than we suspect and posing as Americans to spread their views to influence us. Complete with clips of a woman photographed by the cameras outside CNN’s NYC offices having lunch with a Russian agent and dropping off packages for him. CNN narrator intones, if it can happen outside our offices it can happen anywhere, even in the small town where you live. Be suspicious. At least she did not call the half of America supporting Trump “irredeemable deplorables.” Just “Putin dupes.” And of course, John McCain saying how this Vermont hack was “An Act of War Against America” that demanded retaliation.
Using agitprop is agitating, no matter if false, and no matter if known as false. Have to wonder if they simply want to f people up, seriously.
The harder they try to press the Russian hacking argument, the less I believe it. This is straight out of the Iraq WMD playbook.
Maybe we need a new word for privileged twerps going forward = ‘Bezos’
Or maybe this type of single minded political wedging by previously respected news institutions might just be just juvenile ‘GOP-smacking’ – or public mind-raping, if you are so inclined. Not just Bezos though, Rupert Murdoch and his clan are experts.
If tptb want to create a conflict who can stop them?
Does it matter if no one believes their stories if the unbelievers can’t stop them anyway?
That is why there are clear demarcations called borders, and why Russia is heavily armed.
Of course anyone wrong enough could trespass and assure their own destruction, and of those around them, at the same time. The proxy borders are where the trouble lies due to poor definition.
Go figure, EU is so far left countries handed over their borders and actually asked to be governed from without. I supposed they somehow calculated that by doing so there could be no more invasions… the absurdity of it makes me think of the mentality of a certain country, and one clever enough to sell the idea.
Oops you might be right Crysangle – are you referring to a country that started two world wars or the other one once run by Bonaparte that had similar objectives and was also badly beaten in the mid-east.
The electrical grid in my neighborhood remains unhackable — by any foe. Go ahead and try if you like.
Even after Storm Sandy, a lot of it is controlled by manual switches dating back to the second world war, although some of the big stuff is controlled by vacuum tubes (much like the air traffic control system).
The smaller transformers are firmly in the control of squirrels nests (the little rodent).
It seems to me that if anyone in Congress knew the first thing about the US electrical grid — they would be worried about it failing from old age / poor maintenance. It goes without saying that the clueless wonders in Congress couldn’t wire a doorbell much less grasp something more complex.
Pretending the system is controlled by computers that can be hacked is just ridiculous. The grid itself is not that sophisticated. Maybe someone could hack the billing system (maybe?), but the antique grid requires people to run about throwing giant lever switches in person.
WaPo? tough to take that mess seriously.
Our infrastructure is incredibly vulnerable to cyber attack and there had been two successful attacks in the Ukraine:
Ukraine’s Power Grid Gets Hacked Again, a Worrying Sign for Infrastructure Attacks
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/603262/ukraines-power-grid-gets-hacked-again-a-worrying-sign-for-infrastructure-attacks/
However, as I and other have pointed out, just because malware known to have originated in a certain area of the world is used doesn’t prove who used it. Much better would be IP traces back to the controllers of the malware, but that still isn’t 100% conclusive.
Just a caution – it wasn’t the Russians who released Stuxnet as an offensive weapon into the world. Consequences are not a novel idea but obviously this does not occur or seem fair to some people.
These Democrats sound like 1950s JOHN BIRCH SOCIETY members …… does Obama & the rest check under their beds for RUSSIANS every night?
“That is a direct threat to Vermont and we do not take it lightly.”
Oh noes! Not V’mont!
America is only one maple syrup famine away from being ravaged by roving bands of fur trappers!
âThe whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.â ~ H. L. Mencken
Barry Rose, CBF
Credit Manager
Diamond Plastics Corporation
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âIf you only have a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.â ~ Abraham Maslow