Tag Archives: cyber esponiage

Iran’s Cyber Attack on Billionaire Adelson Provides Lesson on Strategy, by Alyza Sebenius, Kartikay Mehrotra and William Turton

Iran has potent cyberwar capabilities. From Alyza Sebenius, Kartikay Mehrotra and William Turton at Bloomberg via finance.yahoo.com:

(Bloomberg) — As the U.S. awaits possible retribution over a recent airstrike that killed a top general, there’s at least one American businessman who can attest, in detail, to what happened after he provoked Iran.

In October 2013, Sheldon Adelson, the casino magnate and prominent supporter of conservative politicians and Israel, appeared on a panel in New York in which he suggested that the U.S. could send a message to Iran, regarding its nuclear ambitions, by detonating an American warhead in the middle of the Iranian desert.

“You want to be wiped out? Go ahead and take a tough position,” said Adelson, who later became a major supporter of President Donald Trump. His comments infuriated Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who two weeks later said America “should slap these prating people in the mouth.”

Months later, in February 2014, hackers inserted malware into the computer networks of Adelson’s Las Vegas casino. The withering cyber-attack laid waste to about three quarters of the company’s Las Vegas servers; the cost of recovering data and building new systems cost $40 million or more.

A year after the attack, the top U.S. intelligence official confirmed that Iran was behind it.

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How the Oligarchy Has Prepared the Groundwork for Stealing the Election, by Paul Craig Roberts

Two things this election has taught millions of previously uneducated people: 1) the mainstream media is irredeemably biased and 2) US elections can be rigged. From Paul Craig Roberts at paulcraigroberts.org:

In addition to the cyber manipulation of electronic voting (see http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2016/11/01/very-easy-to-invisibly-steal-us-elections/ ), Finian Cunningham explains a second method the Oligarchy has prepared that would allow the election to be stolen for Hillary. The groundwork that has been officially established indicates that a false flag cyber attack is the preferred method.

A Digital 9/11 If Trump Wins by Finian Cunningham

There are disturbing signs that a digital 9/11 false flag terror attack is being readied for election day in the US to ensure that Donald Trump does not win.

Such an attack – involving widespread internet and power outage – would have nothing to do with Russia or any other foreign state. It would be furnished by agencies of the US Deep State in a classic “false flag” covert manner. But the resulting chaos and “assault on American democracy” will be conveniently blamed on Russia.

That presents a double benefit. Russia would be further demonized as a foreign aggressor “justifying” even harsher counter measures by America and its European allies against Moscow.

Secondly, a digital attack on America’s presidential election day this week, would allow the Washington establishment to pronounce a Trump win invalid due to “Russian cyber subversion”. Invalidation is a prepared option if the ballot results show Republican candidate Donald Trump as the imminent victor.

Democrat rival Hillary Clinton is the clear choice for the White House among the Washington establishment. She has the backing of Wall Street finance capital, the corporate media, the military-industrial complex and the Deep State agencies of the Pentagon and CIA. The fix has been in for months to get her elected by the powers-that-be owing to her well-groomed obedience to American imperialist interests.

The billionaire property magnate Trump is too much of a maverick to be entrusted with the White House, as far as the American ruling elite are concerned.

The trouble is that, despite the massive campaign to discredit Trump, polls show his support remains stubbornly close to Clinton’s. The latter has been tainted with too many scandals involving allegations of sleazy dealings with Wall Street, so-called pay-for-play favors while she was former Secretary of State, and her penchant for inciting overseas wars for regime change using jihadist terrorist foot-soldiers.

As one headline from McClatchy News only days ago put it: “Majority of voters think Clinton acted illegally, new poll finds”. http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/election/article112635048.html#emlnl=Evening_Newsletter

Trump is right. The US presidential election is rigged. The system is heavily stacked against any candidate who does not conform with the interests of the establishment. The massive media-orchestrated campaign against Trump is testimony to that.

But such is popular disgust with Clinton, her sleaze-ball husband Bill and the Washington establishment that her victory is far from certain. Indeed in the last week before voting this Tuesday various polls are showing a neck-and-neck race with even some indicators putting the Republican narrowly ahead.

Over the weekend, the Washington Post, which has been one of the main media outlets panning Trump on a daily basis, reported this: “The electoral map is definitely moving in Trump’s direction”. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/11/04/dont-look-now-the-electoral-map-is-definitely-moving-in-donald-trumps-direction/?wpisrc=nl_headlines&wpmm=1

In recent days, American media are reporting a virtual state of emergency by the US government and its security agencies to thwart what they claim are Russian efforts to incite “election day cyber mayhem.”

To continue reading: How the Oligarchy Has Prepared the Groundwork for Stealing the Election

CIA looks to expand its cyber espionage capabilities, by Greg Miller

Great news! In case you were worried that the present surveillance infrastructure was inadequate, that it does not keep you safe from “terrorists,” the CIA is going to add on another layer. Some of us feel less safe with each additional layer, but you know the old saying: those who would give up their security to protect their civil liberties are lunatic fringe fools. From Greg Miller at The Washington Post:

CIA Director John Brennan is planning a major expansion of the agency’s cyber-espionage capabilities as part of a broad restructuring of an intelligence service long defined by its human spy work, current and former U.S. officials said.

The proposed shift reflects a determination that the CIA’s approach to conventional espionage is increasingly outmoded amid the exploding use of smartphones, social media and other technologies.

U.S. officials said Brennan’s plans call for increased use of cyber capabilities in almost every category of operations — whether identifying foreign officials to recruit as CIA informants, confirming the identities of targets of drone strikes or penetrating Internet-savvy adversaries such as the Islamic State.

Several officials said Brennan’s team has even considered creating a new cyber-directorate — a step that would put the agency’s technology experts on equal footing with the operations and analysis branches, which have been pillars of the CIA’s organizational structure for decades.

U.S. officials emphasized that the plans would not involve new legal authorities and that Brennan may stop short of creating a new directorate. But the suggestion underscores the scope of his ambitions, as well as their potential to raise privacy concerns or lead to turf skirmishes with the National Security Agency, the dominant player in electronic espionage.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/cia-looks-to-expand-its-cyber-espionage-capabilities/2015/02/23/a028e80c-b94d-11e4-9423-f3d0a1ec335c_story.html

To continue reading: CIA looks to expand its cyber espionage capabilities