U.S. blames Russia for cyberattacks on energy grid

Many months have passed since Congress overwhelmingly voted to impose greater sanctions. We will need to watch Trump closely to see how he manages to do the least harm to his owner, Putin.

after senior U.S. intelligence officials said in recent weeks the Kremlin feels it can launch hacking operations against the West with impunity.

Gee, why would that be?

It was not clear what was Russia's motive was.

Probably practice - start with the small companies with weaker software defense. Later, broaden infiltration and simply lie in wait until a time when sowing chaos in America is needed. Glad someone noticed.

Ah finally something we could consider proof and evidence. Something that we can use to understand what was done and how to prevent it next time. Not just some banal “muh Russian” nonsense.

So Trump blames Russia for this, joIned the joint condemnation station and put sanctions on people and groups for “election meddling”.

Who wants to be first to tell me why none of that matters and trump is still controlled by Putin?

Trump must feel disappointed by Putin with this hacking attack, the election meddling and now the nerve agent attack in Britain

Shameful, the last administration knew since 2014 that the Russians tentacles were getting into everything in America and now we are so knee deep with dealing with these people.

Well anyway the complaint he has done “nothing” about election meddling, cyberattacks and sanctions is all done now.

Yeah I didn’t even bother asking why the last guy did nothing about it in March 2016. Several of the usual excuses will just come out. The current President has taken string and decisive action so that we can get back to things that matter, like Stormy Daniels.

. The current President has taken string and decisive action

Hahahaha No he hasn't. Where are the sanctions?

Did them yesterday. Same people who Mueller “indicted” and more.

The most liberal site that I know of:

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/03/trump-finally-imposes-russia-sanctions-that-congress-ordered-months-ago/

right there in the URL and headline. Even with the “finally” that all the anti-trump media decided to use.

Trump Finally Imposes Russia Sanctions That Congress Ordered Months Ago

Must be a slow news day when the electrical power grid makes the headlines. No one is doing anything to protect the grid and they can't do a whole lot. The grid is what it is. It is susceptible to failure at any moment. Good luck with it.

Hehehe. Tv is full of anti-Russia stuff for the unproven poisoning of a spy, so now more anti Russian rumors. The Cold War ended with no nukes, but Putin is 5x smarter than trump, and has not only 7000 nukes, but a new generation that USA can not stop.

NZ or Antarctica are looking pretty attractive for relocating right now.

Trump must feel disappointed by Putin with this hacking attack, the election meddling and now the nerve agent attack in Britain.

Not disappointed at all, since it got him elected! Selective release of damaging Clinton emails.

Yeah I didn’t even bother asking why the last guy did nothing about it in March 2016

Y'know, Black, if you don't know something, it's a good idea to ask.

Obama waited until after the election to respond. In hindsight, perhaps he should have responded sooner, but you know as well as I the uproar Repubs would have raised, accusing Obama of trying to weight the scales

As to how Obama responded to Russian meddling, he:

ordered the U.S. intelligence community to issue a public report about the Russian scheme;

described Russia's involvement as "Significant Malicious Cyber-Enabled Activities";

ordered 35 Russian diplomats and their families to leave the country within 72 hours;

sanctioned four Russian officials of the GRU;

for the first time listed Russian officials publicly, by name, on a sanctions list;

sanctioned the GRU and the FSB;

sanctioned three companies that provided material support to the GRU's operations;

sanctioned two other Russian individual for cyber-enabled crimes;

permanently closed two Russian compounds, located in Maryland and New York.

Sanctions are serious. Those sanctioned are prohibited from entering the US or using the US banking system. Particularly due to the latter, most Western countries automatically follow suit (one reason for the massive amount of money laundering originating in Russia - they're frozen out of the Western banking system). And let's not forget 2012's Magnitsky Act, that that so infuriates Putin personally and may have been the root cause of the meddling - and Trump's involvement (money laundering).

So, no, to say Obama did nothing is false. He acted deliberately and with great affect. Compare this with the reluctance of Trump, who didn't even mention the chemical weapon attack in England until days after May had pointed her finger at Russia.

Nice long post but the "it" I was talking about was the topic of this article, the Russian cyberattacks on the energy grid. Why did the last guy never mention this to the American people in March of 2016 or late 2015 when it happened? Or did the Mueller investigation just uncover this and the last guy didnt know?

Waiting until after you lose an election to do something just looks like resentment that you lost. You must realize that,right?

Yawn. It is getting boring. Since the election hacking thing ended as a fizzle, now "attack on the energy grid"? Very sad, US politicians portray their great country as some third world banana republick.

Next what? A major discovery of Russian meddling in the F-35 program, making it the most expensive weapons program in the history of mankind?

theeastisred

Share your fantasies with weirdos on other boards lol

Why did the last guy never mention this to the American people in March of 2016 or late 2015 when it happened?

Well, he had already initiated sanctions against Russia for the whole Ukraine thing. Did you need further evidence that he wasn't colluding with Russia?

Why has Trump done nothing about cyber security?

http://thehill.com/policy/cybersecurity/375784-nsa-director-says-he-hasnt-receive-orders-from-trump-to-disrupt-russian

Since the election hacking thing ended as a fizzle, now "attack on the energy grid"? 

Asakaze, two points.

The "election hacking thing" is far from ended. Mueller has subpoenaed Trump Organization records. My guess is they're looking at connivance with Russian money laundering. With the growing list of sanctions on the kleptocrats and the companies they steal from, it's growing increasingly difficult for the oligarchs to find a place to stash their loot. Likely a few Trump properties were bought with such ill-gotten cash. Did Trump know? Was there any quid pro quo?

While Trump is well-known to lie, the US intelligence services are not, particularly regarding a situation like hacking the energy grid. Of course, China and NK would love to do the same, and if it had been their fingerprints found, the services would have said so. But they did not.

Friends in the international community are nice to have. has none (except for Assad). In fact, Putin is simply succeeding in deepening enmity. Too bad the Russian people have no choice regarding how to vote this Sunday, what with the media in Putin's pocket and opponents disqualified, jailed, or conveniently suddenly dead. It will not work out well for him, though. The noose is tightening.

@Laguna

The "election hacking thing" is far from ended

Oh, I absolutely believe you! I'm sure this show will go on for years, untill Trump is president, with the same result.

Trump is well-known to lie, the US intelligence services are not

You seem to forgot about the "discovery of Saddam's nukes" in 2003.

Too bad the Russian people have no choice regarding how to vote this Sunday

In fact they have a choice, there is quite a number of candidates. By the way, may be you also want to lament the lack of democracy in Germany, with Merkel's fourth term?

The noose is tightening

The "Anaconda" plan in action? I see. The Western sanctions against Russia are at full force since 2014, Obama even managed to boast about Russian economy in shambles. But the reality is that Russians could not care less, their economy is stable, local production without threat of import from the West is booming. But you have another ten or twenty years to wait the noose tightened, right?

Askaze, I see you're unfamiliar with how investigations work in the US. Generally, the investigator starts with the small fry, shake them for what they know, and gradually work their way up the hierarchy (they can't just meet an "accident" as is common in Russia). The fact that Mueller has reached the level of the Trump Organization indicates conclusion is within sight. Mueller's final step will be to interview Trump himself; whether Trump accedes willingly or under threat of subpoena is the hot topic now. I give Mueller's investigation another couple months.

Regarding Saddam's nukes, that was Bush's doing. Intelligence can provide the president with what they know, but sometimes what they know is patchy, and it's up to the president to make the call. (Bush was hell-bent on war with Saddam anyway so would have invaded no matter what intelligence he received - and notice how the once highly-respected Colin Powell saw his career ended due to the infamous UN yellowcake speech Bush pressured him into.) Such ambiguity is likely not the case here.

Ha ha! Lots of candidates, eh? Yeah, there are about eight to chose from (Alexey Navalny, who's been jailed three times this year, is not among them), none who poll above 8% in the "opinion" polls except for Putin, who's in the upper-60s. Putins high numbers reflect lack of an option, something ensured by Putin's control of the media, arrest of supporters or candidates themselves, and unreasonably strict controls or complete prohibitions of rallies. When Trump's supporters taunt Clinton with "Lock her up!", it's (mostly) just rhetoric. In Russia, it happens. Seriously, if you posed a potential challenge to Putin, would you dare run?

The "anaconda" plan is entire contingent Russian behavior. Russians are accustomed to suffering and at any rate have no choice. Expats do: The number of British citizens living in Russia fell from 180,000 to 30,000 between 2014 and 2016. And then there's the growing dissatisfaction among the oligarchs, which is all Putin cares about as only from that nest could a challenge emerge.

So we'll see. Europe to a large extent has been willing to overlook Putin's crimes due to its reliance on Russian energy, but as they say in Japanese, 仏の顔も三度撫でれば腹立てる。Just take care - nobody wants a fight.

@ Laguna

I see you're unfamiliar with how investigations work in the US

I know a little. I was a kid when the great Bill - Monica investigation took place, I remember very vividly how

Billy "Oral Officer" Clinton in order to deflect the investigation from the certain stains on Monica's dress started

the bombings of Yugoslavia. I hope nothing like that happens this time.

Saddam's nukes, that was Bush's doing

Pretty convenient, heh? "That were bad guys from the previous administration, but we are so go-o-o-od!". Seriously, it does not matter who and what said or did personally in Washington, matter the actions of the US as a country. After Colin Powell's performance at UN the rule is simple: first comes proof, not to believe just claims (of White House, or State Department, or intelligence community, who cares).

Alexey Navalny, who's been jailed three times this year

For illegal gatherings and resistance to the police. What happens to people in the US for resistance to the police? And what country introduced the "three strikes and you're out" rule?

Russians are accustomed to suffering and at any rate have no choice

In fact they have a choice - they can pack and move to other countries. Borders are open, they can go, but they don't do that. And a growing number of people from ex-Soviet republicks flock to Russia for jobs and opportunities. Only from Ukraine, after the West-opchestrated coup of 2014, migrated about 2 or 3 millions.

Europe to a large extent has been willing to overlook Putin's crimes

How dare that nasty Europeans to have their own interests when the Big Boss said otherwise! lol To tell you a secret, only a small proportion of Europeans - eurobureaucrats, politicians, MSM propagandists - fully share the US agenda. As they say in Japanese, 一つ穴の狢.

Just take care - nobody wants a fight

The best part of your post. Fully agreed.

Much greater use of renewables is part of a total defence policy. Really crazy to rely on centralised electricity generation.

Matt HartwellToday 07:47 pm JST

Much greater use of renewables is part of a total defence policy. Really crazy to rely on centralised electricity generation.

agree w/ the decentralized renewable part - but they also don't need to have these sorts of power grid systems available from the internet. if someone needs to monitor or access them they should be forced to do it locally, not over the internet/vpn etc.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, in response to the latest sanctions on 19 Russian citizens and five entities:

From the very beginning, we use the principle of parity on the number of people included in sanction lists. So we will expand our ‘black list’ with another group of Americans.

How sad. There goes that Black Sea vacation on its wonderful pebble beaches. Next thing you know, Russia will ban American companies from utilizing its banking system.

Shameful, the last administration knew since 2014 that the Russians tentacles were getting into everything in America and now we are so knee deep with dealing with these people.

But somehow Trump and his team managed to stay out of it. Them thar is ninja moves.

The stupidity from conservatives never stops. Their idiocy is no longer surprising or shocking. It will always be a little sad.

U.S. blames Russia for cyberattacks on energy grid

The American Left sees this as the smoking gun of collusion between Trump and Russia-Russia-Russia.

The American Left sees this as the smoking gun of collusion between Trump and Russia-Russia-Russia.

The American Right sees this as the opportunity to finally be able to say: Look! Trump finally admits Russia has been attacking the US.

Nobody on the left sees this as the smoking gun. You'll know if there is a smoking gun if Mueller says so. He's not done yet.

The American Right sees this as the opportunity to finally be able to say: Look! Trump finally admits Russia has been attacking the US.

The American Right knew that all the way back when Obama and Hillary were pressing their pro-Russian reset button with the Kremlin and when Obama was telling Romney that the 1980’s were calling and they wanted their foreign policy back. 

Nobody on the left sees this as the smoking gun. You'll know if there is a smoking gun if Mueller says so. He's not done yet.

Apparently he’s done looking for collusion. Now he has his team of Democrat donoting lawyers scrummaging through Trumps business finances looking for a purjury trap to gig him on. Give any government official wide ranging power, no accountability, and an unlimited budget they are bound to find something no matter how minor to entrap someone with. When you got British and Russian spy’s in on the effort something is bound to turn up. The Deep State will not be denied.

I thought Trump was in Putin's pocket... hmmm...