A Russian hacking team known as Cold River targeted three nuclear research laboratories in the United States this past summer, according to internet records reviewed by Reuters and five cyber security experts.

Russian hackers reportedly targeted three U.S. nuclear research laboratories

US President Joe Biden on Monday slammed the Chinese and Russian governments for "protecting" and "accommodating" hackers.

"My understanding is that the Chinese government, not unlike the Russian government, is not doing it themselves but are protecting those who are doing it, and maybe even accommodating them being able to do it," Biden said on hacking incidents.

Watch:

<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/microsoft-email-hack-how-does-the-attack-work-what-microsoft-is-doing-369772/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

Biden's comment as the US has formally accused China of hacking into <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/us-formally-accuses-china-of-hacking-microsoft-399062">Microsoft </a>servers even as the US Department of Justice said four Chinese nationals have been charged with hacking computers of companies, universities and government bodies.

British foreign secretary Dominic Raab while backing the US decision, said: "The cyberattack on Microsoft Exchange Server by Chinese state-backed groups was a reckless but familiar pattern of behaviour."

"Responsible states do not indiscriminately compromise global network security nor knowingly harbour cybercriminals - let alone sponsor or collaborate with them," US secretary of state Antony Blinken said, adding, "These contract hackers cost governments and businesses billions of dollars in stolen intellectual property, ransom payments, and cybersecurity mitigation efforts, all while the MSS had them on its payroll."

NATO, the European Union, Australia and Japan also condemned alleged spying by Chinese networks.

"The PRC’s Ministry of State Security (MSS) has fostered an ecosystem of criminal contract hackers who carry out both state-sponsored activities and cybercrime for their own financial gain," Blinken added.

Blinken warned that the Biden administration will impose "consequences" on Chinese malicious cyber actors as President Biden said US authorities will be completing their investigation before countermeasures are taken.

(With inputs from Agencies) 
&nbsp;

US President Joe Biden on Monday slammed the Chinese and Russian governments for "protecting" and "accommodating" hackers. "My understanding is that the Chinese government, not unlike the Russian government, is not doing it themselves but are protecting those who are doing it, and maybe even accommodating them being able to do it," Biden said on hacking incidents.

US President Joe Biden on Monday slammed the Chinese and Russian governments for "protecting" and "accommodating" hackers. "My understanding is that the Chinese government, not unlike the Russian government, is not doing it themselves but are protecting those who are doing it, and maybe even accommodating them being able to do it," Biden said on hacking incidents. Watch: Biden's comment as the US has formally accused China of hacking into Microsoft servers even as the US Department of Justice said four Chinese nationals have been charged with hacking computers of companies, universities and government bodies. British foreign secretary Dominic Raab while backing the US decision, said: "The cyberattack on Microsoft Exchange Server by Chinese state-backed groups was a reckless but familiar pattern of behaviour." "Responsible states do not indiscriminately compromise global network security nor knowingly harbour cybercriminals - let alone sponsor or collaborate with them," US secretary of state Antony Blinken said, adding, "These contract hackers cost governments and businesses billions of dollars in stolen intellectual property, ransom payments, and cybersecurity mitigation efforts, all while the MSS had them on its payroll." NATO, the European Union, Australia and Japan also condemned alleged spying by Chinese networks. "The PRC’s Ministry of State Security (MSS) has fostered an ecosystem of criminal contract hackers who carry out both state-sponsored activities and cybercrime for their own financial gain," Blinken added. Blinken warned that the Biden administration will impose "consequences" on Chinese malicious cyber actors as President Biden said US authorities will be completing their investigation before countermeasures are taken. (With inputs from Agencies)

China, Russia protecting, maybe even accommodating hackers: Biden

On Election Day, Gen. Paul Nakasone, the nation’s top cyberwarrior, reported that the battle against Russian interference in the presidential campaign had posted major successes and exposed the other side’s online weapons, tools and tradecraft.

“We’ve broadened our operations and feel very good where we’re at right now,” he told journalists.

Eight weeks later, Nakasone and other U.S. officials responsible for cybersecurity are now consumed by what they missed for at least nine months: a hacking, now believed to have affected upward of 250 federal agencies and businesses, that Russia aimed not at the election system but at the rest of the U.S. government and many large American corporations.

Three weeks after the intrusion came to light, U.S. officials are still trying to understand whether what the Russians pulled off was simply an espionage operation inside the systems of the American bureaucracy or something more sinister, inserting “backdoor” access into government agencies, major corporations, the electric grid and laboratories developing and transporting new generations of nuclear weapons.

At a minimum it has set off alarms about the vulnerability of government and private-sector networks in the United States to attack and raised questions about how and why the nation’s cyberdefenses failed so spectacularly.

Those questions have taken on particular urgency given that the breach was not detected by any of the government agencies that share responsibility for cyberdefense — the military’s Cyber Command and the National Security Agency, both of which are run by Nakasone, and the Department of Homeland Security — but by a private cybersecurity company, FireEye.

“This is looking much, much worse than I first feared,” said Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., the ranking member of the Senate Intelligence Committee. “The size of it keeps expanding. It’s clear the United States government missed it.”

“And if FireEye had not come forward,” he added, “I’m not sure we would be fully aware of it to this day.”

Interviews with key players investigating what intelligence agencies believe to be an operation by Russia’s SVR intelligence service revealed these points:

— The breach is far broader than first believed. Initial estimates were that Russia sent its probes only into a few dozen of the 18,000 government and private networks it gained access to when it inserted code into network management software made by a Texas company named SolarWinds. But as businesses like Amazon and Microsoft that provide cloud services dig deeper for evidence, it now appears Russia exploited multiple layers of the supply chain to gain access to as many as 250 networks.

— The hackers managed their intrusion from servers inside the United States, exploiting legal prohibitions on the National Security Agency from engaging in domestic surveillance and eluding cyberdefenses deployed by the Department of Homeland Security.

— “Early warning” sensors placed by Cyber Command and the National Security Agency deep inside foreign networks to detect brewing attacks clearly failed. There is also no indication yet that any human intelligence alerted the United States to the hacking.

— The government’s emphasis on election defense, while critical in 2020, may have diverted resources and attention from long-brewing problems like protecting the “supply chain” of software. In the private sector, too, companies that were focused on election security, like FireEye and Microsoft, are now revealing that they were breached as part of the larger supply chain attack.

— SolarWinds, the company that the hackers used as a conduit for their attacks, had a history of lackluster security for its products, making it an easy target, according to current and former employees and government investigators. Its chief executive, Kevin Thompson, who is leaving his job after 11 years, has sidestepped the question of whether his company should have detected the intrusion.

— Some of the compromised SolarWinds software was engineered in Eastern Europe, and American investigators are now examining whether the incursion originated there, where Russian intelligence operatives are deeply rooted.

The intentions behind the attack remain shrouded. But with a new administration taking office in three weeks, some analysts say the Russians may be trying to shake Washington’s confidence in the security of its communications and to demonstrate their cyberarsenal to gain leverage against President-elect Joe Biden before nuclear arms talks.

“We still don’t know what Russia’s strategic objectives were,” said Suzanne Spaulding, who was the senior cyberofficial at the Homeland Security Department during the Obama administration. “But we should be concerned that part of this may go beyond reconnaissance. Their goal may be to put themselves in a position to have leverage over the new administration, like holding a gun to our head to deter us from acting to counter Putin.”

Growing Hit List

The U.S. government was clearly the main focus of the attack, with the Treasury Department, the State Department, the Commerce Department, the Energy Department and parts of the Defense Department among the agencies confirmed to have been infiltrated. (The &nbsp;Pentagon insists the attacks on its systems were unsuccessful, though it has offered no evidence.)

But the hacking also breached large numbers of corporations, many of which have yet to step forward. SolarWinds is believed to be one of several supply chain vendors Russia used in the hacking. Microsoft, which had tallied 40 victims as of Dec. 17, initially said that it had not been breached, only to discover this week that it had been — and that resellers of its software had been, too. A previously unreported assessment by Amazon’s intelligence team found the number of victims may have been five times greater, though officials warn some of those may be double-counted.

Publicly, officials have said they do not believe the hackers from Russia’s SVR pierced classified systems containing sensitive communications and plans. But privately, officials say they still do not have a clear picture of what might have been stolen.

They said they worried about delicate but unclassified data the hackers might have taken from victims like the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, including Black Start, the detailed technical blueprints for how the United States plans to restore power in the event of a cataclysmic blackout.

The plans would give Russia a hit list of systems to target to keep power from being restored in an attack like the one it pulled off in Ukraine in 2015, shutting off power for six hours in the dead of winter. Moscow long ago implanted malware in the U.S. electric grid, and the United States has done the same to Russia as a deterrent.

A Supply Chain Compromised

One main focus of the investigation so far has been SolarWinds, the company based in Austin, Texas, whose software updates the hackers compromised.

But the cybersecurity arm of the Department of Homeland Security concluded the hackers worked through other channels, too. And last week, CrowdStrike, another security company, revealed that it was also targeted, unsuccessfully, by the same hackers, but through a company that resells Microsoft software.

Because resellers are often entrusted to set up clients’ software, they — like SolarWinds — have broad access to Microsoft customers’ networks. As a result, they can be an ideal Trojan horse for Russia’s hackers. Intelligence officials have expressed anger that Microsoft did not detect the attack earlier; the company, which said Thursday that the hackers viewed its source code, has not disclosed which of its products were affected or for how long hackers were inside its network.

“They targeted the weakest points in the supply chain and through our most trusted relationships,” said Glenn Chisholm, a founder of Obsidian Security.

Interviews with current and former employees of SolarWinds suggest it was slow to make security a priority, even as its software was adopted by America’s premier cybersecurity company and federal agencies.

Employees say that under Thompson, an accountant by training and a former chief financial officer, every part of the business was examined for cost savings, and common security practices were eschewed because of their expense. His approach helped almost triple SolarWinds’ annual profit margins to more than $453 million in 2019 from $152 million in 2010.

But some of those measures may have put the company and its customers at greater risk for attack. SolarWinds moved much of its engineering to satellite offices in the Czech Republic, Poland and Belarus, where engineers had broad access to the Orion network management software that Russia’s agents compromised.

The company has said only that the manipulation of its software was the work of human hackers rather than of a computer program. It has not publicly addressed the possibility of an insider being involved in the breach.

None of the SolarWinds customers contacted by The New York Times in recent weeks were aware they were reliant on software that was maintained in Eastern Europe. Many said they did not even know they were using SolarWinds software until recently.

Even with its software installed throughout federal networks, employees said SolarWinds tacked on security only in 2017, under threat of penalty from a new European privacy law. Only then, employees say, did SolarWinds hire its first chief information officer and install a vice president of “security architecture.”

Ian Thornton-Trump, a former cybersecurity adviser at SolarWinds, said he warned management that year that unless it took a more proactive approach to its internal security, a cybersecurity episode would be “catastrophic.” After his basic recommendations were ignored, Thornton-Trump left the company.

SolarWinds declined to address questions about the adequacy of its security. In a statement, it said it was a “victim of a highly sophisticated, complex and targeted cyberattack” and was collaborating closely with law enforcement, intelligence agencies and security experts to investigate.

But security experts note that it took days after the Russian attack was discovered before SolarWinds’ websites stopped offering clients compromised code.

Offense Over Defense

Billions of dollars in cybersecurity budgets have flowed in recent years to offensive espionage and preemptive action programs, what Nakasone calls the need to “defend forward” by hacking into adversaries’ networks to get an early look at their operations and to counteract them inside their own networks before they can attack, if required.

But that approach, while hailed as a long-overdue strategy to preempt attacks, missed the Russian breach.

By staging their attacks from servers inside the United States, in some cases using computers in the same town or city as their victims, according to FireEye, the Russians took advantage of limits on the National Security Agency’s authority. Congress has not given the agency or homeland security any authority to enter or defend private-sector networks. It was on these networks that SVR operatives were less careful, leaving clues about their intrusions that FireEye was ultimately able to find.

By inserting themselves into the SolarWinds’ Orion update and using custom tools, they also avoided tripping the alarms of the “Einstein” detection system that homeland security deployed across government agencies to catch known malware, and of the so-called CDM program that was explicitly devised to alert agencies to suspicious activity.

Some intelligence officials are questioning whether the government was so focused on election interference that it created openings elsewhere.

Intelligence agencies concluded months ago that Russia had determined it could not infiltrate enough election systems to affect the outcome of elections and instead shifted its attention to deflecting ransomware attacks that could disenfranchise voters and influence operations aimed at sowing discord, stoking doubt about the system’s integrity and changing voters’ minds.

The SolarWinds hacking, which began as early as October 2019, and the intrusion into Microsoft’s resellers gave Russia a chance to attack the most vulnerable, least defended networks across multiple federal agencies.

Nakasone declined to be interviewed. But a spokesperson for the National Security Agency, Charles Stadtlander, said, “We don't consider this as an ‘either/or’ trade-off. The actions, insights and new frameworks constructed during election security efforts have broad positive impacts for the cybersecurity posture of the nation and the U.S. government.”

In fact, the United States appears to have succeeded in persuading Russia that an attack aimed at changing votes would prompt a costly retaliation. But as the scale of the intrusion comes into focus, it is clear the U.S. government failed to convince Russia there would be a comparable consequence to executing a broad hacking on federal government and corporate networks.

Getting the Hackers Out

Intelligence officials say it could be months, years even, before they have a full understanding of the hacking.

Since the extraction of a top Kremlin informant in 2017, the CIA’s knowledge of Russian operations has been diminished. And the SVR has remained one of the world’s most capable intelligence services by avoiding electronic communications that could expose its secrets to the National Security Agency, intelligence officials say.

The best assessments of the SVR have come from the Dutch. In 2014, hackers working for the Dutch General Intelligence and Security Service pierced the computers used by the group, watching them for at least a year and at one point catching them on camera.

It was the Dutch who helped alert the White House and State Department to an SVR hacking of their systems in 2014 and 2015, and last month, they caught and expelled from the Netherlands two SVR operatives accused of infiltrating technology companies there. While the group is not known to be destructive, it is notoriously difficult to evict from computer systems it has infiltrated.

When the SVR broke into the unclassified systems at the State Department and White House, Richard Ledgett, then the deputy director of the National Security Agency, said the agency engaged in the digital equivalent of “hand-to-hand combat.” At one point, the SVR gained access to the NetWitness Investigator tool that investigators use to uproot Russian back doors, manipulating it in such a way that the hackers continued to evade detection.

Investigators said they would assume they had kicked out the SVR, only to discover the group had crawled in through another door.

Some security experts said that ridding so many sprawling federal agencies of the SVR may be futile and that the only way forward may be to shut systems down and start anew. Others said doing so in the middle of a pandemic would be prohibitively expensive and time-consuming, and the new administration would have to work to identify and contain every compromised system before it could calibrate a response.

“The SVR is deliberate, they are sophisticated, and they don’t have the same legal restraints as we do here in the West,” said Adam Darrah, a former government intelligence analyst who is now director of intelligence at Vigilante, a security firm.

Sanctions, indictments and other measures, he added, have failed to deter the SVR, which has shown it can adapt quickly.

“They are watching us very closely right now,” Darrah said. “And they will pivot accordingly.”

On Election Day, Gen. Paul Nakasone, the nation’s top cyberwarrior, reported that the battle against Russian interference in the presidential campaign had posted major successes and exposed the other side’s online weapons, tools and tradecraft.

On Election Day, Gen. Paul Nakasone, the nation’s top cyberwarrior, reported that the battle against Russian interference in the presidential campaign had posted major successes and exposed the other side’s online weapons, tools and tradecraft. “We’ve broadened our operations and feel very good where we’re at right now,” he told journalists. Eight weeks later, Nakasone and other U.S. officials responsible for cybersecurity are now consumed by what they missed for at least nine months: a hacking, now believed to have affected upward of 250 federal agencies and businesses, that Russia aimed not at the election system but at the rest of the U.S. government and many large American corporations. Three weeks after the intrusion came to light, U.S. officials are still trying to understand whether what the Russians pulled off was simply an espionage operation inside the systems of the American bureaucracy or something more sinister, inserting “backdoor” access into government agencies, major corporations, the electric grid and laboratories developing and transporting new generations of nuclear weapons. At a minimum it has set off alarms about the vulnerability of government and private-sector networks in the United States to attack and raised questions about how and why the nation’s cyberdefenses failed so spectacularly. Those questions have taken on particular urgency given that the breach was not detected by any of the government agencies that share responsibility for cyberdefense — the military’s Cyber Command and the National Security Agency, both of which are run by Nakasone, and the Department of Homeland Security — but by a private cybersecurity company, FireEye. “This is looking much, much worse than I first feared,” said Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., the ranking member of the Senate Intelligence Committee. “The size of it keeps expanding. It’s clear the United States government missed it.” “And if FireEye had not come forward,” he added, “I’m not sure we would be fully aware of it to this day.” Interviews with key players investigating what intelligence agencies believe to be an operation by Russia’s SVR intelligence service revealed these points: — The breach is far broader than first believed. Initial estimates were that Russia sent its probes only into a few dozen of the 18,000 government and private networks it gained access to when it inserted code into network management software made by a Texas company named SolarWinds. But as businesses like Amazon and Microsoft that provide cloud services dig deeper for evidence, it now appears Russia exploited multiple layers of the supply chain to gain access to as many as 250 networks. — The hackers managed their intrusion from servers inside the United States, exploiting legal prohibitions on the National Security Agency from engaging in domestic surveillance and eluding cyberdefenses deployed by the Department of Homeland Security. — “Early warning” sensors placed by Cyber Command and the National Security Agency deep inside foreign networks to detect brewing attacks clearly failed. There is also no indication yet that any human intelligence alerted the United States to the hacking. — The government’s emphasis on election defense, while critical in 2020, may have diverted resources and attention from long-brewing problems like protecting the “supply chain” of software. In the private sector, too, companies that were focused on election security, like FireEye and Microsoft, are now revealing that they were breached as part of the larger supply chain attack. — SolarWinds, the company that the hackers used as a conduit for their attacks, had a history of lackluster security for its products, making it an easy target, according to current and former employees and government investigators. Its chief executive, Kevin Thompson, who is leaving his job after 11 years, has sidestepped the question of whether his company should have detected the intrusion. — Some of the compromised SolarWinds software was engineered in Eastern Europe, and American investigators are now examining whether the incursion originated there, where Russian intelligence operatives are deeply rooted. The intentions behind the attack remain shrouded. But with a new administration taking office in three weeks, some analysts say the Russians may be trying to shake Washington’s confidence in the security of its communications and to demonstrate their cyberarsenal to gain leverage against President-elect Joe Biden before nuclear arms talks. “We still don’t know what Russia’s strategic objectives were,” said Suzanne Spaulding, who was the senior cyberofficial at the Homeland Security Department during the Obama administration. “But we should be concerned that part of this may go beyond reconnaissance. Their goal may be to put themselves in a position to have leverage over the new administration, like holding a gun to our head to deter us from acting to counter Putin.” Growing Hit List The U.S. government was clearly the main focus of the attack, with the Treasury Department, the State Department, the Commerce Department, the Energy Department and parts of the Defense Department among the agencies confirmed to have been infiltrated. (The Pentagon insists the attacks on its systems were unsuccessful, though it has offered no evidence.) But the hacking also breached large numbers of corporations, many of which have yet to step forward. SolarWinds is believed to be one of several supply chain vendors Russia used in the hacking. Microsoft, which had tallied 40 victims as of Dec. 17, initially said that it had not been breached, only to discover this week that it had been — and that resellers of its software had been, too. A previously unreported assessment by Amazon’s intelligence team found the number of victims may have been five times greater, though officials warn some of those may be double-counted. Publicly, officials have said they do not believe the hackers from Russia’s SVR pierced classified systems containing sensitive communications and plans. But privately, officials say they still do not have a clear picture of what might have been stolen. They said they worried about delicate but unclassified data the hackers might have taken from victims like the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, including Black Start, the detailed technical blueprints for how the United States plans to restore power in the event of a cataclysmic blackout. The plans would give Russia a hit list of systems to target to keep power from being restored in an attack like the one it pulled off in Ukraine in 2015, shutting off power for six hours in the dead of winter. Moscow long ago implanted malware in the U.S. electric grid, and the United States has done the same to Russia as a deterrent. A Supply Chain Compromised One main focus of the investigation so far has been SolarWinds, the company based in Austin, Texas, whose software updates the hackers compromised. But the cybersecurity arm of the Department of Homeland Security concluded the hackers worked through other channels, too. And last week, CrowdStrike, another security company, revealed that it was also targeted, unsuccessfully, by the same hackers, but through a company that resells Microsoft software. Because resellers are often entrusted to set up clients’ software, they — like SolarWinds — have broad access to Microsoft customers’ networks. As a result, they can be an ideal Trojan horse for Russia’s hackers. Intelligence officials have expressed anger that Microsoft did not detect the attack earlier; the company, which said Thursday that the hackers viewed its source code, has not disclosed which of its products were affected or for how long hackers were inside its network. “They targeted the weakest points in the supply chain and through our most trusted relationships,” said Glenn Chisholm, a founder of Obsidian Security. Interviews with current and former employees of SolarWinds suggest it was slow to make security a priority, even as its software was adopted by America’s premier cybersecurity company and federal agencies. Employees say that under Thompson, an accountant by training and a former chief financial officer, every part of the business was examined for cost savings, and common security practices were eschewed because of their expense. His approach helped almost triple SolarWinds’ annual profit margins to more than $453 million in 2019 from $152 million in 2010. But some of those measures may have put the company and its customers at greater risk for attack. SolarWinds moved much of its engineering to satellite offices in the Czech Republic, Poland and Belarus, where engineers had broad access to the Orion network management software that Russia’s agents compromised. The company has said only that the manipulation of its software was the work of human hackers rather than of a computer program. It has not publicly addressed the possibility of an insider being involved in the breach. None of the SolarWinds customers contacted by The New York Times in recent weeks were aware they were reliant on software that was maintained in Eastern Europe. Many said they did not even know they were using SolarWinds software until recently. Even with its software installed throughout federal networks, employees said SolarWinds tacked on security only in 2017, under threat of penalty from a new European privacy law. Only then, employees say, did SolarWinds hire its first chief information officer and install a vice president of “security architecture.” Ian Thornton-Trump, a former cybersecurity adviser at SolarWinds, said he warned management that year that unless it took a more proactive approach to its internal security, a cybersecurity episode would be “catastrophic.” After his basic recommendations were ignored, Thornton-Trump left the company. SolarWinds declined to address questions about the adequacy of its security. In a statement, it said it was a “victim of a highly sophisticated, complex and targeted cyberattack” and was collaborating closely with law enforcement, intelligence agencies and security experts to investigate. But security experts note that it took days after the Russian attack was discovered before SolarWinds’ websites stopped offering clients compromised code. Offense Over Defense Billions of dollars in cybersecurity budgets have flowed in recent years to offensive espionage and preemptive action programs, what Nakasone calls the need to “defend forward” by hacking into adversaries’ networks to get an early look at their operations and to counteract them inside their own networks before they can attack, if required. But that approach, while hailed as a long-overdue strategy to preempt attacks, missed the Russian breach. By staging their attacks from servers inside the United States, in some cases using computers in the same town or city as their victims, according to FireEye, the Russians took advantage of limits on the National Security Agency’s authority. Congress has not given the agency or homeland security any authority to enter or defend private-sector networks. It was on these networks that SVR operatives were less careful, leaving clues about their intrusions that FireEye was ultimately able to find. By inserting themselves into the SolarWinds’ Orion update and using custom tools, they also avoided tripping the alarms of the “Einstein” detection system that homeland security deployed across government agencies to catch known malware, and of the so-called CDM program that was explicitly devised to alert agencies to suspicious activity. Some intelligence officials are questioning whether the government was so focused on election interference that it created openings elsewhere. Intelligence agencies concluded months ago that Russia had determined it could not infiltrate enough election systems to affect the outcome of elections and instead shifted its attention to deflecting ransomware attacks that could disenfranchise voters and influence operations aimed at sowing discord, stoking doubt about the system’s integrity and changing voters’ minds. The SolarWinds hacking, which began as early as October 2019, and the intrusion into Microsoft’s resellers gave Russia a chance to attack the most vulnerable, least defended networks across multiple federal agencies. Nakasone declined to be interviewed. But a spokesperson for the National Security Agency, Charles Stadtlander, said, “We don't consider this as an ‘either/or’ trade-off. The actions, insights and new frameworks constructed during election security efforts have broad positive impacts for the cybersecurity posture of the nation and the U.S. government.” In fact, the United States appears to have succeeded in persuading Russia that an attack aimed at changing votes would prompt a costly retaliation. But as the scale of the intrusion comes into focus, it is clear the U.S. government failed to convince Russia there would be a comparable consequence to executing a broad hacking on federal government and corporate networks. Getting the Hackers Out Intelligence officials say it could be months, years even, before they have a full understanding of the hacking. Since the extraction of a top Kremlin informant in 2017, the CIA’s knowledge of Russian operations has been diminished. And the SVR has remained one of the world’s most capable intelligence services by avoiding electronic communications that could expose its secrets to the National Security Agency, intelligence officials say. The best assessments of the SVR have come from the Dutch. In 2014, hackers working for the Dutch General Intelligence and Security Service pierced the computers used by the group, watching them for at least a year and at one point catching them on camera. It was the Dutch who helped alert the White House and State Department to an SVR hacking of their systems in 2014 and 2015, and last month, they caught and expelled from the Netherlands two SVR operatives accused of infiltrating technology companies there. While the group is not known to be destructive, it is notoriously difficult to evict from computer systems it has infiltrated. When the SVR broke into the unclassified systems at the State Department and White House, Richard Ledgett, then the deputy director of the National Security Agency, said the agency engaged in the digital equivalent of “hand-to-hand combat.” At one point, the SVR gained access to the NetWitness Investigator tool that investigators use to uproot Russian back doors, manipulating it in such a way that the hackers continued to evade detection. Investigators said they would assume they had kicked out the SVR, only to discover the group had crawled in through another door. Some security experts said that ridding so many sprawling federal agencies of the SVR may be futile and that the only way forward may be to shut systems down and start anew. Others said doing so in the middle of a pandemic would be prohibitively expensive and time-consuming, and the new administration would have to work to identify and contain every compromised system before it could calibrate a response. “The SVR is deliberate, they are sophisticated, and they don’t have the same legal restraints as we do here in the West,” said Adam Darrah, a former government intelligence analyst who is now director of intelligence at Vigilante, a security firm. Sanctions, indictments and other measures, he added, have failed to deter the SVR, which has shown it can adapt quickly. “They are watching us very closely right now,” Darrah said. “And they will pivot accordingly.”

As understanding of Russian hacking grows, so does alarm

The US Department of Energy said today said the security functions at the National Nuclear Security Administration(NNSA) was "not impacted"&nbsp;after confirming that it "found that the malware has been isolated to business networks only, and has not impacted the mission essential national security functions of the Department."

Watch:

<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/microsoft-corporation-says-was-hit-by-cyberattack-related-to-sweeping-us-hack-350739/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

The National Nuclear Security Administration(NNSA) manages the US nuclear stockpile.

On Monday, reports said that the US Department of Homeland Security(DHS) was targeted by <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/european-medicines-agency-hacking-pfizer-biontech-confirm-vaccine-documents-unlawfully-accessed-348845">hackers</a>, however, the DHS denied the report. It had however added that "it was aware of cyber breaches across the federal government and working closely with our partners in the public and private sector on the federal response."

The DHS said hackers reportedly broke into SolarWinds Orion IT products following a recent update as they gained access to internal communications. CISA Acting Director Brandon Wales said: "We urge all our partners -- in the public and private sectors -- to assess their exposure to this compromise and to secure their networks."

The DOE meanwhile confirmed that it was attacked in hacks of SolarWinds software. The federal agency said it was investigating a suspected Russian link. The DOE said that systems at the Commerce Department and Treasury Department have also been breached.

In a joint statement, FBI, Cybersecurity and infrastructure security agency(CISA) and Office of the Director of National Intelligence said it was "investigating and gathering intelligence in order to attribute, pursue, and disrupt the responsible threat actors."

"CISA took immediate action and issued an Emergency Directive instructing federal civilian agencies to immediately disconnect or power down affected SolarWinds Orion products from their network," it added.

"This is a developing situation, and while we continue to work to understand the full extent of this campaign, we know this compromise has affected networks within the federal government," the statement added.

SolarWinds had earlier admitted that hackers had exploited a backdoor in an update of some of its software released between March and June. &nbsp;

The US Department of Energy said today said the security functions at the National Nuclear Security Administration(NNSA) was "not impacted" after confirming that it "found that the malware has been isolated to business networks only, and has not impacted the mission essential national security functions of the Department.

The US Department of Energy said today said the security functions at the National Nuclear Security Administration(NNSA) was "not impacted" after confirming that it "found that the malware has been isolated to business networks only, and has not impacted the mission essential national security functions of the Department." Watch: The National Nuclear Security Administration(NNSA) manages the US nuclear stockpile. On Monday, reports said that the US Department of Homeland Security(DHS) was targeted by hackers, however, the DHS denied the report. It had however added that "it was aware of cyber breaches across the federal government and working closely with our partners in the public and private sector on the federal response." The DHS said hackers reportedly broke into SolarWinds Orion IT products following a recent update as they gained access to internal communications. CISA Acting Director Brandon Wales said: "We urge all our partners -- in the public and private sectors -- to assess their exposure to this compromise and to secure their networks." The DOE meanwhile confirmed that it was attacked in hacks of SolarWinds software. The federal agency said it was investigating a suspected Russian link. The DOE said that systems at the Commerce Department and Treasury Department have also been breached. In a joint statement, FBI, Cybersecurity and infrastructure security agency(CISA) and Office of the Director of National Intelligence said it was "investigating and gathering intelligence in order to attribute, pursue, and disrupt the responsible threat actors." "CISA took immediate action and issued an Emergency Directive instructing federal civilian agencies to immediately disconnect or power down affected SolarWinds Orion products from their network," it added. "This is a developing situation, and while we continue to work to understand the full extent of this campaign, we know this compromise has affected networks within the federal government," the statement added. SolarWinds had earlier admitted that hackers had exploited a backdoor in an update of some of its software released between March and June.

Russia link? US Department of Energy targeted, nuclear security 'not impacted'

In a bid to steal valuable data related to Coronavirus vaccine research, government-linked hackers China, Russia, Iran and North Korea are engaged in concerted attempts to steal coronavirus vaccine secrets.

Calling it an intellectual property war security experts said that hackers are trying to obtain trial results early and seize sensitive information about mass production of drugs.

China and Russia are also racing to develop a vaccine, bringing together its state, military and private sectors to combat a disease that has killed over 1.39 million people worldwide.

Earlier this month, A report by Microsoft revealed that hackers for the Russian and North Korean governments have targeted more than half a dozen of organisations involved in the COVID-19 treatment and vaccine research from around the globe.

In this report by Microsoft, the tech giant stated that a Russian hacking group, known as 'Fancy Bear', and a pair of North Korean actors called "Zinc" and "Cerium", by Microsoft, were implicated as they tried to break into the networks of nearly seven pharmaceutical companies and vaccine researchers in fice countries, namely, Canada, France, India, South Korea, and the United States.

(With inputs from agencies)

In a bid to steal valuable data related to Coronavirus vaccine research, government-linked hackers China, Russia, Iran and North Korea are engaged in concerted attempts to steal coronavirus vaccine secrets.

In a bid to steal valuable data related to Coronavirus vaccine research, government-linked hackers China, Russia, Iran and North Korea are engaged in concerted attempts to steal coronavirus vaccine secrets. Calling it an intellectual property war security experts said that hackers are trying to obtain trial results early and seize sensitive information about mass production of drugs. China and Russia are also racing to develop a vaccine, bringing together its state, military and private sectors to combat a disease that has killed over 1.39 million people worldwide. Earlier this month, A report by Microsoft revealed that hackers for the Russian and North Korean governments have targeted more than half a dozen of organisations involved in the COVID-19 treatment and vaccine research from around the globe. In this report by Microsoft, the tech giant stated that a Russian hacking group, known as 'Fancy Bear', and a pair of North Korean actors called "Zinc" and "Cerium", by Microsoft, were implicated as they tried to break into the networks of nearly seven pharmaceutical companies and vaccine researchers in fice countries, namely, Canada, France, India, South Korea, and the United States. (With inputs from agencies)

Intellectual property war: Hackers try to steal Covid vaccine secrets

A report by Microsoft revealed that hackers for the Russian and North Korean governments have targeted more than half a dozen of organisations involved in the COVID-19 treatment and vaccine research from around the globe.

In this report by Microsoft, the tech giant stated that a Russian hacking group, known as 'Fancy Bear', and a pair of North Korean actors called "Zinc" and "Cerium", by Microsoft, were implicated as they tried to break into the networks of nearly seven&nbsp;pharmaceutical companies and vaccine researchers in fice countries, namely, Canada, France, India, South Korea, and the United States.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/india-news/watch-russias-covid-19-vaccine-sputnik-v-arrives-in-india-342873" hreflang="en">Watch: Russia's COVID-19 vaccine Sputnik V arrives in India</a>

While the majority of the break-in attempts failed, a few unspecified numbers of attempts succeeded. Majority of these attacks were aimed at medical organisations that were involved in the process of testing the COVID-19 vaccine. However, Microsoft has declined to publically identify the companies that were targetted by Rusian and North Korean hackers. The software company has also refused to provide a timeline of these attacks.

The Russian embassy in Washington, however, has declined all such accusations in the past. This time, too, the officials said there was "nothing that we can add" to the previous statements of denials.

This report came as several countries in the world are competing to produce and distribute the first COVID-19 vaccine to the world, as a lot of countries have now stepped into the second wave of coronavirus.

Microsoft also urged that a new&nbsp;set of global rules and regulations barring digital intrusions aimed at healthcare providers should be set up.

Microsoft executive Tom Burt said in a statement his company was timing its announcement with Microsoft President Brad Smith's appearance at the virtual Paris Peace Forum, where he would call on world leaders "to affirm that international law protects health care facilities and to take action to enforce the law."

A report by Microsoft revealed that hackers for the Russian and North Korean governments have targeted more than half a dozen of organisations involved in the COVID-19 treatment and vaccine research from around the globe.

A report by Microsoft revealed that hackers for the Russian and North Korean governments have targeted more than half a dozen of organisations involved in the COVID-19 treatment and vaccine research from around the globe. In this report by Microsoft, the tech giant stated that a Russian hacking group, known as 'Fancy Bear', and a pair of North Korean actors called "Zinc" and "Cerium", by Microsoft, were implicated as they tried to break into the networks of nearly seven pharmaceutical companies and vaccine researchers in fice countries, namely, Canada, France, India, South Korea, and the United States. Watch: Russia's COVID-19 vaccine Sputnik V arrives in India While the majority of the break-in attempts failed, a few unspecified numbers of attempts succeeded. Majority of these attacks were aimed at medical organisations that were involved in the process of testing the COVID-19 vaccine. However, Microsoft has declined to publically identify the companies that were targetted by Rusian and North Korean hackers. The software company has also refused to provide a timeline of these attacks. The Russian embassy in Washington, however, has declined all such accusations in the past. This time, too, the officials said there was "nothing that we can add" to the previous statements of denials. This report came as several countries in the world are competing to produce and distribute the first COVID-19 vaccine to the world, as a lot of countries have now stepped into the second wave of coronavirus. Microsoft also urged that a new set of global rules and regulations barring digital intrusions aimed at healthcare providers should be set up. Microsoft executive Tom Burt said in a statement his company was timing its announcement with Microsoft President Brad Smith's appearance at the virtual Paris Peace Forum, where he would call on world leaders "to affirm that international law protects health care facilities and to take action to enforce the law."

Hackers from Russia, North Korea targeted COVID-19 vaccine: Microsoft

The German government today summoned&nbsp;the Russian envoy over the Parliament hacking incident after Russian authorities said that its military intelligence wasn't responsible for the hacking attack.

“This hackneyed story is trying to put blame on Russia for cyber warfare, attempts at intimidation, destabilization and disinformation towards the EU,” the Russian embassy said in a statement.

According to a German magazine, Der Spiegel Russia's GRU military intelligence had hacked into German Parliament's records in 2015.

"The Russian ambassador was informed that on the basis of an arrest warrant issued by the (German) federal prosecutor's office on May 5 against Russian national Dmitry Badin, that the German government will seek in Brussels to use the EU cyber sanctions regime against those responsible for the attack on the German Bundestag, including Mr Badin," the ministry said.

German Chancellor Merkel while making a statement in Parliament earlier had said earlier that her efforts to improve ties with Russia weren't made any easier due to Russian hacking.&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;

"I can honestly say that it pains me. Every day I try to build a better relationship with Russia and on the other hand, there is such hard evidence that Russian forces are doing this," Merkel told the German Parliament.

"Unfortunately the conclusion I have reached is that this is not new," Merkel asserted while saying that "cyber-disorientation, the distortion of facts were all part of Russia's strategy".

"Obviously this doesn't make it easier to foster a better relationship with Moscow," Merkel told lawmakers.&nbsp;

The German government today summoned the Russian envoy over the Parliament hacking incident after Russian authorities said that its military intelligence wasn't responsible for the hacking attack.

The German government today summoned the Russian envoy over the Parliament hacking incident after Russian authorities said that its military intelligence wasn't responsible for the hacking attack. “This hackneyed story is trying to put blame on Russia for cyber warfare, attempts at intimidation, destabilization and disinformation towards the EU,” the Russian embassy said in a statement. According to a German magazine, Der Spiegel Russia's GRU military intelligence had hacked into German Parliament's records in 2015. "The Russian ambassador was informed that on the basis of an arrest warrant issued by the (German) federal prosecutor's office on May 5 against Russian national Dmitry Badin, that the German government will seek in Brussels to use the EU cyber sanctions regime against those responsible for the attack on the German Bundestag, including Mr Badin," the ministry said. German Chancellor Merkel while making a statement in Parliament earlier had said earlier that her efforts to improve ties with Russia weren't made any easier due to Russian hacking. "I can honestly say that it pains me. Every day I try to build a better relationship with Russia and on the other hand, there is such hard evidence that Russian forces are doing this," Merkel told the German Parliament. "Unfortunately the conclusion I have reached is that this is not new," Merkel asserted while saying that "cyber-disorientation, the distortion of facts were all part of Russia's strategy". "Obviously this doesn't make it easier to foster a better relationship with Moscow," Merkel told lawmakers.

Germany summons Russian ambassador over Parliament hacking row

Trump&#39;s former campaign member, long-time friend&nbsp;and mega supporter Roger Stone was apparently in email communication with the Russian hackers being probed by the FBI, known as &quot;Guccifer 2.0&quot;, according to &quot;a source&quot; in a report filed by <a href="http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/investigation/roger-stone-and-guccifer-913684" target="_blank">The Smoking Gun</a>&nbsp;(TSG).

Guccifer 2.0 claims to be an independent hacker, but US intelligence says &quot;with high confidence&quot;&nbsp;that it was in fact GRU, Russian Military Intel Service simply&nbsp;operating&nbsp;under the alias &quot;Guccifer 2.0&quot;,&nbsp;with the specific aim&nbsp;to help Donald Trump get elected president.

The email from Guccifer 2.0&nbsp;is dated from&nbsp;June 15, 2016, when Roger Stone was still officially a member of the Trump campaign.

Attached in TSG&#39;s long&nbsp;article about Roger Stone was an&nbsp;email&nbsp;from &quot;Guccifer 2.0&quot; purportedly&nbsp;to Stone himself. Nowhere in the email does it say &quot;Roger Stone&quot;, but TSG&#39;s article also contained&nbsp;an IRS tax document with Roger Stone&#39;s name on it. This does not mean that the email from Guccifer 2.0 is authentically addressed to Roger Stone, but TSG&nbsp;does have a leak that provided&nbsp;official correspondence between Stone and the American Government, ie the IRS (Internal Revenue Service).&nbsp;&nbsp;

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If this email is truly from Russian hackers to an official member of Donald Trump&#39;s election campaign, it would be very, very damning. Photo source: The Smoking Gun. (Others)
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WION contacted&nbsp;TSG to ask about the source of the leak, and for proof that the email from Guccifer 2.0 was indeed mailed to Roger Stone. So far they have not&nbsp;responded, and we will update the article if they do.

&nbsp;

Why would this email prove?

If this email is truly from Guccifer 2.0 to Roger Stone, it means that an official&nbsp;Trump campaign member was in communication with the Russian government, and worked with them as they&nbsp;interfered with the US election on Trump&#39;s behalf.

Before, it was clear that Russia hacked the Democrats,&nbsp;who then&nbsp;sent emails&nbsp;to WikiLeaks. In fact, the first time WikiLeaks published the Democrat&#39;s emails was on October 7, just <a href="http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2016/dec/18/john-podesta/its-true-wikileaks-dumped-podesta-emails-hour-afte/" target="_blank">hours </a>after the recording leaked of Trump saying, &quot;Grab them by the p*ssy&quot;.&nbsp;

But there was no proof that Trump worked directly with Russia, or with WikiLeaks.

That changed days&nbsp;ago when the same <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/trump-ally-says-he-worked-with-assange-pre-election-to-spread-clinton-emails-in-abusive-twitter-tirade-13089" target="_blank">Roger Stone </a>took to Twitter to say he had a &quot;perfectly legal back channel with WikiLeaks&quot; and also&nbsp;said, &quot;Assange does NOT work for Russians and nobody has proved otherwise&quot;. Actually, Stone has admitted to being in &quot;direct contact&quot; with Julian Assange himself. Essentially,&nbsp;the Trump campaign&nbsp;did&nbsp;have open communication with WikiLeaks.

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Listen to &quot;long time Trump advisor&quot; Roger Stone here... sure seems to know what Assange (Russia) had in store: <a href="https://t.co/EclA0jpXIU">pic.twitter.com/EclA0jpXIU</a>
&mdash; justin kanew (@justin_kanew) <a href="https://twitter.com/justin_kanew/status/838485426050641920">March 5, 2017</a></blockquote>
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It may be&nbsp;noteworthy that WikiLeaks was responsible for the&nbsp;biggest ever leak of secret&nbsp;CIA <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/mar/07/wikileaks-publishes-biggest-ever-leak-of-secret-cia-documents-hacking-surveillance" target="_blank">documents</a>, and it came amid Trump&#39;s ongoing war with US intelligence, and&nbsp;just days after Stone admitted to having a channel of communication with WikiLeaks.

Here is Trump encouraging Russia to hack Clinton&#39;s emails:

<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gNa2B5zHfbQ" width="560"></iframe>

While Russia&#39;s interference in the US election may constitute an act of war between the countries, this doesn&#39;t necessarily reflect on President Trump.&nbsp;

But if the Guccifer 2.0-Stone email is confirmed, it&nbsp;proves that the exact same aide in Trump&#39;s campaign was in contact with not just WikiLeaks but with the Russian Military Intelligence Service,&nbsp;the very people who hacked the Democrats.

&nbsp;

Does anything else suggest Russia and Trump are connected?

Jeff Sessions&nbsp;recused himself from the US intelligence&#39;s&nbsp;investigation into the Trump-Russia connection after it emerged that he at least twice met the Russian ambassador, Sergey Kislyak, and lied about it under oath.

Shortly after Sessions met Kislyak at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland last summer, the Republican Party changed the language in their policy to become more aligned with Russia. Former Trump aide <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/jd-gordon-trump-adviser-ukraine-rnc-2017-3" target="_blank">JD Gordon</a> just claimed this alignment was on the insistence of&nbsp;Donald Trump himself. Historically, Jeff Sessions has been decidedly<a href="http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/3/2/14790818/jeff-sessions-russia-attorney-general-lie-congress-perjury-recusal" target="_blank"> anti-Russia</a>.

It was also just reported that <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/donald-trump-himself-met-russian-ambassador-before-election-report-13160" target="_blank">Donald Trump</a>&nbsp;himself&nbsp;met the Russian ambassador and lied about it. Other members of his administration or his campaign who have done the same include: National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, Carter Page, Paul Manafort, JD Gordon, and as mentioned Jeff Sessions. Trump&#39;s son-in-law and White House adviser Jared Kushner also met Kislyak, but after the election.

Flynn had to resign from his position as the head of national security after <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/national-security-adviser-flynn-discussed-sanctions-with-russian-ambassador-despite-denials-officials-say/2017/02/09/f85b29d6-ee11-11e6-b4ff-ac2cf509efe5_story.html?hpid=hp_rhp-top-table-main_usrussia-%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&amp;utm_term=.4def7586fab0" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a> reported that not only did Flynn lie about meeting with the Russian ambassador, but that he called Kislyak repeatedly the day Obama levelled sanctions against Russia to discuss those&nbsp;sanctions. The phone calls were recordedm as per ordinary US intelligence protocol.

From the report, which cited&nbsp;nine senior officials in US intelligence: &quot;All of those officials said Flynn&#39;s reference to the election-related sanctions were explicit.&quot;&nbsp;

The notorious Christopher Steele dossier alleges that Putin, the former head of Russia&#39;s spy agency, has enough information over Trump to blackmail him. That dossier contains allegations that are false, mostly slight error about inessential items.&nbsp;But&nbsp;more and more of it&nbsp;is being <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RbpBxJ3QNyvts_w16UcSSGeH7cSrXK9U3wIq0OOq-Xs/preview" target="_blank">corroborated</a>.

Trump has <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/analysis-trump-russia-and-deutsche-banklinks-that-raise-many-many-questions-11975" target="_blank">many </a>links with Russia, and has had them for decades.&nbsp;

Trump dismisses&nbsp;his&nbsp;alleged connection to Russia as Fake News. It&#39;s a real possibility that this email is not what it claims to be. &nbsp;

But Trump is definitely lying about aspects of his connection to Russia. It would be funny if the stakes weren&#39;t so high, but here is Trump denying he&nbsp;knows Vladimir Putin, while also&nbsp;bragging about his personal relationship with Putin.

<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/WadK_pXsEGE" width="560"></iframe>

(WION)

A published email claiming to be from 'Guccifer 2.0' to Roger Stone would prove that Trump's campaign communicated with Kremlin hackers

Trump's former campaign member, long-time friend and mega supporter Roger Stone was apparently in email communication with the Russian hackers being probed by the FBI, known as "Guccifer 2.0", according to "a source" in a report filed by The Smoking Gun (TSG). Guccifer 2.0 claims to be an independent hacker, but US intelligence says "with high confidence" that it was in fact GRU, Russian Military Intel Service simply operating under the alias "Guccifer 2.0", with the specific aim to help Donald Trump get elected president. The email from Guccifer 2.0 is dated from June 15, 2016, when Roger Stone was still officially a member of the Trump campaign. Attached in TSG's long article about Roger Stone was an email from "Guccifer 2.0" purportedly to Stone himself. Nowhere in the email does it say "Roger Stone", but TSG's article also contained an IRS tax document with Roger Stone's name on it. This does not mean that the email from Guccifer 2.0 is authentically addressed to Roger Stone, but TSG does have a leak that provided official correspondence between Stone and the American Government, ie the IRS (Internal Revenue Service). If this email is truly from Russian hackers to an official member of Donald Trump's election campaign, it would be very, very damning. Photo source: The Smoking Gun. (Others) × WION contacted TSG to ask about the source of the leak, and for proof that the email from Guccifer 2.0 was indeed mailed to Roger Stone. So far they have not responded, and we will update the article if they do. Why would this email prove? If this email is truly from Guccifer 2.0 to Roger Stone, it means that an official Trump campaign member was in communication with the Russian government, and worked with them as they interfered with the US election on Trump's behalf. Before, it was clear that Russia hacked the Democrats, who then sent emails to WikiLeaks. In fact, the first time WikiLeaks published the Democrat's emails was on October 7, just hours after the recording leaked of Trump saying, "Grab them by the p*ssy". But there was no proof that Trump worked directly with Russia, or with WikiLeaks. That changed days ago when the same Roger Stone took to Twitter to say he had a "perfectly legal back channel with WikiLeaks" and also said, "Assange does NOT work for Russians and nobody has proved otherwise". Actually, Stone has admitted to being in "direct contact" with Julian Assange himself. Essentially, the Trump campaign did have open communication with WikiLeaks. Listen to "long time Trump advisor" Roger Stone here... sure seems to know what Assange (Russia) had in store: pic.twitter.com/EclA0jpXIU — justin kanew (@justin_kanew) March 5, 2017 × It may be noteworthy that WikiLeaks was responsible for the biggest ever leak of secret CIA documents, and it came amid Trump's ongoing war with US intelligence, and just days after Stone admitted to having a channel of communication with WikiLeaks. Here is Trump encouraging Russia to hack Clinton's emails: While Russia's interference in the US election may constitute an act of war between the countries, this doesn't necessarily reflect on President Trump. But if the Guccifer 2.0-Stone email is confirmed, it proves that the exact same aide in Trump's campaign was in contact with not just WikiLeaks but with the Russian Military Intelligence Service, the very people who hacked the Democrats. Does anything else suggest Russia and Trump are connected? Jeff Sessions recused himself from the US intelligence's investigation into the Trump-Russia connection after it emerged that he at least twice met the Russian ambassador, Sergey Kislyak, and lied about it under oath. Shortly after Sessions met Kislyak at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland last summer, the Republican Party changed the language in their policy to become more aligned with Russia. Former Trump aide JD Gordon just claimed this alignment was on the insistence of Donald Trump himself. Historically, Jeff Sessions has been decidedly anti-Russia. It was also just reported that Donald Trump himself met the Russian ambassador and lied about it. Other members of his administration or his campaign who have done the same include: National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, Carter Page, Paul Manafort, JD Gordon, and as mentioned Jeff Sessions. Trump's son-in-law and White House adviser Jared Kushner also met Kislyak, but after the election. Flynn had to resign from his position as the head of national security after The Washington Post reported that not only did Flynn lie about meeting with the Russian ambassador, but that he called Kislyak repeatedly the day Obama levelled sanctions against Russia to discuss those sanctions. The phone calls were recordedm as per ordinary US intelligence protocol. From the report, which cited nine senior officials in US intelligence: "All of those officials said Flynn's reference to the election-related sanctions were explicit." The notorious Christopher Steele dossier alleges that Putin, the former head of Russia's spy agency, has enough information over Trump to blackmail him. That dossier contains allegations that are false, mostly slight error about inessential items. But more and more of it is being corroborated. Trump has many links with Russia, and has had them for decades. Trump dismisses his alleged connection to Russia as Fake News. It's a real possibility that this email is not what it claims to be. But Trump is definitely lying about aspects of his connection to Russia. It would be funny if the stakes weren't so high, but here is Trump denying he knows Vladimir Putin, while also bragging about his personal relationship with Putin. (WION)

Trump campaign communicated with Russian hackers during election, claims report

Allegations of Russian interference in US politics cast a shadow over inaugural preparations on Sunday, with the CIA chief warning that President-elect Donald Trump must tamp down his shoot-from-the-hip style to protect national security.&nbsp;

John Brennan&#39;s warning to the incoming Republican president -&nbsp;just days before Friday&#39;s inauguration -&nbsp;came as senators launched a bipartisan probe into Moscow&#39;s alleged meddling in the 2016 election.

&quot;I don&#39;t think he has a full appreciation of Russian capabilities, Russia&#39;s intentions and actions,&quot; ?Brennan said of Trump on Fox News Sunday.&nbsp;

Trump has been effusive in his praise of Vladimir Putin and said in a news conference last week that if the Russian leader &quot;likes&quot; him it would be an &quot;asset&quot; to help repair the strained US-Russian relationship.

&quot;I think Mr. Trump has to be very disciplined in terms of what it is that he says publicly,&quot; Brennan said. &quot;He is going to be, in a few days&#39; time, the most powerful person in the world, in terms of sitting on top of the United States government and I think he has to recognise that his words do have impact.&quot;

&quot;This is more than being about him, it&#39;s about the United States and national security... he&#39;s going to have the opportunity to do something for national security as opposed to talking and tweeting,&quot; he said.

&quot;Spontaneity is not something that protects national security interests, so therefore, when he speaks, when he reacts, he has to make sure he understands that the implications and impact on the United States could be profound.&quot;

&#39;A sophisticated effort&#39;

US intelligence agencies allege that Putin ordered a covert effort to interfere in the election to boost Trump, 70, and harm his opponent, Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Incoming Vice President Mike Pence on Sunday dismissed notions that the Trump team and the Kremlin had made contact during the 2016 race.

&quot;This is all a distraction,&quot; he said on NBC&#39;s Meet the Press. &quot;It&#39;s all part of a narrative to delegitimize the election and to question the legitimacy of his presidency.&quot;

A report from the Director of National Intelligence released this month said hackers working for Russia penetrated Democratic Party computers and accounts to release files embarrassing to Clinton, and also conducted a campaign of media manipulation with the same aim.

Asked whether she believed Russian efforts impacted the election&#39;s outcome, Democrat Dianne Feinstein of California -- vice chair of the Senate committee launching the bipartisan probe into the matter -- told NBC &quot;that&#39;s what I believe.&quot;

&quot;I have had all of the major classified briefings. I have been astonished at what has been a two-year effort at Russia to spearfish, to hack, to provide disinformation, propaganda, wherever it really could,&quot; the senator said.

&quot;I think it has been a very sophisticated effort.&quot;

&#39;Salacious allegations&#39;

Speculation was also swirling around an unproven dossier compiled by a former British MI6 intelligence agent, which alleged close ties between the Trump campaign and the Russian government, and also said Moscow had compromising video of Trump.

The fact that intelligence agencies had briefed the president-elect on the dossier -- which was later published online by BuzzFeed -- lent the allegations credence, but Brennan said the intelligence community was only &quot;making sure that the president-elect was aware that it was circulating.&quot;

&quot;I think there are some very salacious allegations in there -- again, unsubstantiated,&quot; he said, adding it was &quot;a responsibility in the minds of the intelligence directors&quot; to inform Trump as well as the Obama White House of the report.

Brennan bristled at Trump&#39;s likening of the US intelligence community to Nazi Germany, a comparison the president-elect made last week in a tweet after &nbsp;suggesting it was those agencies that had leaked the report.

&quot;What I do find outrageous is equating the intelligence community with Nazi Germany,&quot; the outgoing spy chief said of Trump&#39;s outburst. &quot;I do take great umbrage at that.&quot;

Speaking earlier Sunday on CBS, Pence blamed the scandal on &quot;media bias.&quot;

That some news organizations &quot;actually trafficked in a memo that was produced as opposition research and associated that with intelligence efforts -- I think that could only be attributed to media bias,&quot; the vice president-elect said.&nbsp;

(AFP)

Trump said last week that if the Russian leader 'likes' him it would be an 'asset' to help repair the strained US-Russian relationship

Allegations of Russian interference in US politics cast a shadow over inaugural preparations on Sunday, with the CIA chief warning that President-elect Donald Trump must tamp down his shoot-from-the-hip style to protect national security. John Brennan's warning to the incoming Republican president - just days before Friday's inauguration - came as senators launched a bipartisan probe into Moscow's alleged meddling in the 2016 election. "I don't think he has a full appreciation of Russian capabilities, Russia's intentions and actions," ?Brennan said of Trump on Fox News Sunday. Trump has been effusive in his praise of Vladimir Putin and said in a news conference last week that if the Russian leader "likes" him it would be an "asset" to help repair the strained US-Russian relationship. "I think Mr. Trump has to be very disciplined in terms of what it is that he says publicly," Brennan said. "He is going to be, in a few days' time, the most powerful person in the world, in terms of sitting on top of the United States government and I think he has to recognise that his words do have impact." "This is more than being about him, it's about the United States and national security... he's going to have the opportunity to do something for national security as opposed to talking and tweeting," he said. "Spontaneity is not something that protects national security interests, so therefore, when he speaks, when he reacts, he has to make sure he understands that the implications and impact on the United States could be profound." 'A sophisticated effort' US intelligence agencies allege that Putin ordered a covert effort to interfere in the election to boost Trump, 70, and harm his opponent, Democrat Hillary Clinton. Incoming Vice President Mike Pence on Sunday dismissed notions that the Trump team and the Kremlin had made contact during the 2016 race. "This is all a distraction," he said on NBC's Meet the Press. "It's all part of a narrative to delegitimize the election and to question the legitimacy of his presidency." A report from the Director of National Intelligence released this month said hackers working for Russia penetrated Democratic Party computers and accounts to release files embarrassing to Clinton, and also conducted a campaign of media manipulation with the same aim. Asked whether she believed Russian efforts impacted the election's outcome, Democrat Dianne Feinstein of California -- vice chair of the Senate committee launching the bipartisan probe into the matter -- told NBC "that's what I believe." "I have had all of the major classified briefings. I have been astonished at what has been a two-year effort at Russia to spearfish, to hack, to provide disinformation, propaganda, wherever it really could," the senator said. "I think it has been a very sophisticated effort." 'Salacious allegations' Speculation was also swirling around an unproven dossier compiled by a former British MI6 intelligence agent, which alleged close ties between the Trump campaign and the Russian government, and also said Moscow had compromising video of Trump. The fact that intelligence agencies had briefed the president-elect on the dossier -- which was later published online by BuzzFeed -- lent the allegations credence, but Brennan said the intelligence community was only "making sure that the president-elect was aware that it was circulating." "I think there are some very salacious allegations in there -- again, unsubstantiated," he said, adding it was "a responsibility in the minds of the intelligence directors" to inform Trump as well as the Obama White House of the report. Brennan bristled at Trump's likening of the US intelligence community to Nazi Germany, a comparison the president-elect made last week in a tweet after suggesting it was those agencies that had leaked the report. "What I do find outrageous is equating the intelligence community with Nazi Germany," the outgoing spy chief said of Trump's outburst. "I do take great umbrage at that." Speaking earlier Sunday on CBS, Pence blamed the scandal on "media bias." That some news organizations "actually trafficked in a memo that was produced as opposition research and associated that with intelligence efforts -- I think that could only be attributed to media bias," the vice president-elect said. (AFP)

US: CIA chief urges Trump to temper impulses amid Russia claims

The FBI has no evidence that Russia successfully hacked President-elect Donald Trump&#39;s campaign or the Republican National Committee (RNC), Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey said on Tuesday.

Testifying before Congress for the first time since Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton on November&nbsp;8, Comey declined to answer a question about whether the FBI was investigating the possibility of links between Trump associates and Russia.

US&nbsp;intelligence agencies on Friday released an assessment that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an effort to help Republican Trump&#39;s electoral chances by discrediting Clinton in the 2016 campaign.

The report, which omitted classified details, was the US&nbsp;government&#39;s starkest public description of what it says was an Russian campaign to manipulate the American electoral process. Russian authorities have denied interfering in the election.

&quot;We did not develop any evidence that the Trump campaign, or the current RNC, was successfully hacked,&quot; Comey told lawmakers.

He said there was evidence Russia hacked Republican state-level political campaigns and &quot;old&quot; email domains that the RNC was no longer using. While it collected some information from these hacks, Russia did not publicly release it, he said.

In contrast, Friday&#39;s report assessed that Russian military intelligence used intermediaries such as WikiLeaks, DCLeaks.com and the Guccifer 2.0 &quot;persona&quot; to release emails that it had acquired from the Democratic National Committee and top Democrats as part of the effort to help Trump and harm Clinton.

(Reuters)

James Comey said there was evidence Russia hacked Republican state-level political campaigns and 'old' email domains that RNC no longer used

The FBI has no evidence that Russia successfully hacked President-elect Donald Trump's campaign or the Republican National Committee (RNC), Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey said on Tuesday. Testifying before Congress for the first time since Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton on November 8, Comey declined to answer a question about whether the FBI was investigating the possibility of links between Trump associates and Russia. US intelligence agencies on Friday released an assessment that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an effort to help Republican Trump's electoral chances by discrediting Clinton in the 2016 campaign. The report, which omitted classified details, was the US government's starkest public description of what it says was an Russian campaign to manipulate the American electoral process. Russian authorities have denied interfering in the election. "We did not develop any evidence that the Trump campaign, or the current RNC, was successfully hacked," Comey told lawmakers. He said there was evidence Russia hacked Republican state-level political campaigns and "old" email domains that the RNC was no longer using. While it collected some information from these hacks, Russia did not publicly release it, he said. In contrast, Friday's report assessed that Russian military intelligence used intermediaries such as WikiLeaks, DCLeaks.com and the Guccifer 2.0 "persona" to release emails that it had acquired from the Democratic National Committee and top Democrats as part of the effort to help Trump and harm Clinton. (Reuters)

No evidence Trump campaign or RNC 'successfully hacked' says FBI

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