Washington Post Stirs Fear After False Report Of Power Grid Hack By Russia

originally posted by: Konduit
They find malware on a laptop not even connected to the grid system, and instantly the Washington Compost starts pushing the Russian hacker narrative.

Yes, they found it on a company Laptop, but that is step one for taking down an electrical grid. Collect credentials from employees.

In Ukraine the hackers spent months gathering data/credentials from workers before accessing the Grid an didn't hack into the Grid until the moment they shut it down.

Inside the Cunning Unprecedented Hack of Ukraines Power Grid
www.wired.com...

a reply to: network dude

Dude that article in the guardian was not proven false.

a reply to: Noncents

You are missing the point. It's the Mud-Pit for a reason. You don't have to be nice there. I might or might not depending on my day and my level of patience with a person.

originally posted by: introvert
a reply to: Christosterone

Not sure what [The Washington Post] has to do with the Democrats??? Seriously???

That is not what I asked. I asked what the admin had to do with this factually incorrect news bit. Specifically, what does this story tell us that would compel the OP to question the admin's transparency?

If we follow that logic, and your's, the admin (read democrats) are honest and transparent enough to correct their mistakes publicly...despite knowing such honesty will be lost in the overbearing cries of "fake news" by the Right.

The administration had something, at least, to do with this story.

Firstly, the administration has been pushing these hacking claims without providing evidence.

Secondly, the administration released a document earlier in the week with instructions for checking servers - it was these instructions that prompted the check at the utility.

The whole reason the news story broke was because of the govt. report, the utilities response, and those that jumped in too quick (including WaPo) who seemed to believe it was a new hack.

The administrations involvement is what it is - neither good or bad. It's helpful in the sense that it warns people directly about hacking (which I am sure is widespread). There is no lack of transparency relating to this story directly in my view, rather a lack of transparency relating to evidence of their claims about hacking and the correlation to the wikileaks document. Separate issue, I'd say.

lesson one ... NEVER trust MSM..... !

a reply to: ketsuko
No, I am not missing the point. Here, apparently you didn't read my response back regarding that.

Make a point, argue, call names, tear people down to make yourselves feel better, further perpetuate the divide, whatever. But if a person can't apologize for being rude when they're clearly proven wrong, that's a different thing entirely. And it's not a very good thing.

I understand the point of the Mud-Pit very well. I don't post very often but I've been lurking regularly for a long time. When I first started coming here the color scheme was red and black. It's been a while. I watched the birth of the Mud-Pit. I remember that stupid ATS sloth... This is all way off topic.

On topic though, I read somewhere that it was supposedly someone with ties to the Russian government. That means it was not the Russian government directly but someone with ties to them. That's a broad phrase. Someone receiving welfare has ties to the government. That doesn't mean they work for them or actually have anything to do with them. You've got to look at the words used to understand the spin. And spin it is.

originally posted by: Sillyolme
a reply to: network dude

Dude that article in the guardian was not proven false.

Dude, I didn't say it was.

One thing I do notice about the left is that they keep on using the term "hack" as in "Russia hacked the election" which really means "Russia hacked DNC and RNC servers and leaked DNC emails through Wikileaks" but a lot of people on both sides don't know the whole story. I was reading a Democrat's post on Facebook and they were trying to raise awareness about how vulnerable our voting procedures are (which they aren't).

originally posted by: Liquesence
But it does offer validity. Regardless of whether the grid was hacked (it wasn't, hence the issued correction after incorrect report), there WAS (likely Russian) malware on a utility laptop that, had it been connected to the grid, would allow for potential hacking of the grid. Luckily is wasn't connected, but the means (malware) was still present.

If the malware is present, even if unconnected, there is still a likelihood that there could be...wait for it: hacking, in the event it was connected.

Half the nations on this planet probably have some form of malware created and distributed by citizens/groups within their population. That doesn't mean they're working for or following the orders of their government. The overwhelmingly large majority of malware that is created and distributed is profit-driven. Getting infected by malware is certainly not a new phenomenon - and to assume all of the sudden that it's anything more than a dodgy bloke trying to make some easy cash - just because of the current narrative being pushed by your leaders - is downright silly.

originally posted by: seeker1963
a reply to: network dude


Jeff Bezos bought the Washington Post. The CIA paid Bezos $600 million for some kind of contract.......connecting dots yet?


Washington Post Urged to Disclose New Owner’s CIA Ties


I wonder if it is related to the US government making it legal to lie to the people?

That's the gist of it.

“[Jeff Bezos] recently secured a $600 million contract from the CIA. That’s at least twice what Bezos paid for the Post this year. Bezos recently disclosed that the company’s Web-services business is building a ‘private cloud’ for the CIA to use for its data needs.”

A 'private cloud' for the CIA's data needs, interesting.

“The Post often does reporting on CIA activities. The coverage should include full disclosure that the owner of the Washington Post is also the main owner of Amazon — and Amazon is now gaining huge profits directly from the CIA.”

Robert McChesney of the Institute for Public Accuracy pointed out the glaring conflict of interest:

“If some official enemy of the United States had a comparable situation—say the owner of the dominant newspaper in Caracas was getting $600 million in secretive contracts from the Maduro government—the Post itself would lead the howling chorus impaling that newspaper and that government for making a mockery of a free press. It is time for the Post to take a dose of its own medicine.”

Goes on to mention more about propaganda.
Source

Something a bit dodgy about all this, I don't know what time the Washington Post article came online, but the BBC one always stated that the affected terminal wasn't connected to the grid, how early on 31st did this news come out in America?

I can only assume the BBC didn't write the article until this had been established, as there is no amendment to their article and when I read it yesterday evening it already stated there was no link to the grid.

BBC Article

The BBC article also mentioned Ukraine's grid being hacked last December (2015), regardless I've said it before and I'll say it again...CIA, I actually don't think the DNC is entirely responsible for all this nonsense, they might believe it, but I think there are some pretty nefarious folk working in the background.

Let's face it, the more divided people are the more control they have...I'm not talking about the DNC either, I think the Republicans need to wake up a little too and see how they are being played as well.

At least that is my opinion.

a reply to: kaylaluv

Except, when Russia is on your side, it's two on one, that changes things a bit.

As it is right now, they both hate our Government. Obama has not been very good with China either.

"Embedded journalism" comes to mind

Towing the offical line fed to the lazy compliant press
Who fail to question and investigate what they are fed

Geez, more of this "fake news" crap at ATS. The WaPo got it wrong in the hustle to get out the story. They corrected it ASAP -- right at the top of the original article. It's still there. There were no nefarious intentions. Get over it. Stories are corrected and updated in the heat of reporting all the time. News comes out at break-neck speed now... It is not a sinister plot by the Illuminati or the Liberals. Just please. The only thing "fake" are these stupid posts here at ATS saying they are "fake."

originally posted by: introvert

What does the administration have to do with a factually incorrect news story?

Bezos has 600 mil contract with the CIA, and owns the Post.

An add-on to the recent NDAA authorizes the government to oversee the propaganda channels.

Connect the dots.

Very easy to run an op.

Timing's a little coincidental, no?

I don't trust them.

Here's an article from Forbes covering the sequence of this story and how WaPo sensationalised the story with no evidence and were slow to admit they had pushed fake news.

"Fake News" And How The Washington Post Rewrote Its Story On Russian Hacking Of The Power Grid

It seems the actual malware may not even linked to the same Russian IP addresses that were found on the DNC servers and the actual malware on the laptop can be found online.


SNIPPET

From Russian hackers burrowed deep within the US electrical grid, ready to plunge the nation into darkness at the flip of a switch, an hour and a half later the story suddenly became that a single non-grid laptop had a piece of malware on it and that the laptop was not connected to the utility grid in any way.

However, it was not until almost a full hour after the utility’s official press release (at around 10:30PM EST) that the Post finally updated its article, changing the headline to the more muted “Russian operation hacked a Vermont utility, showing risk to U.S. electrical grid security, officials say” and changed the body of the article to note “Burlington Electric said in a statement that the company detected a malware code used in the Grizzly Steppe operation in a laptop that was not connected to the organization’s grid systems. The firm said it took immediate action to isolate the laptop and alert federal authorities.” Yet, other parts of the article, including a later sentence claiming that multiple computers at the utility had been breached, remained intact.

The following morning, nearly 11 hours after changing the headline and rewriting the article to indicate that the grid itself was never breached and the “hack” was only an isolated laptop with malware, the Post still had not appended any kind of editorial note to indicate that it had significantly changed the focus of the article. This is significant, as one driving force of fake news is that as much of 60% of the links shared on social media are shared based on the title alone, with the sharer not actually reading the article itself. Thus, the title assigned to an article becomes the story itself and the Post’s incorrect title meant that the story that spread virally through the national echo chamber was that the Russians had hacked into the US power grid.

Only after numerous outlets called out the Post’s changes did the newspaper finally append an editorial note at the very bottom of the article more than half a day later saying,
“An earlier version of this story incorrectly said that Russian hackers had penetrated the U.S. electric grid. Authorities say there is no indication of that so far. The computer at Burlington Electric that was hacked was not attached to the grid.”

Yet, even this correction is not a true reflection of public facts as known. The utility indicated only that a laptop was found to contain malware that has previously been associated with Russian hackers. As many pointed out, the malware in question is actually available for purchase online, meaning anyone could have used it and its mere presence is not a guarantee of Russian government involvement. Moreover, a malware infection can come from many sources, including visiting malicious websites and thus the mere presence of malware on a laptop computer does not necessarily indicate that Russian government hackers launched a coordinated hacking campaign to penetrate that machine – the infection could have come from something as simple as an employee visiting an infected website on a work computer.

Moreover, just as with the Santa Claus and the dying child story, the Post story went viral and was widely reshared, leading to embarrassing situations like CNBC tweeting out the story and then having to go back and retract the story. Particularly fascinating that the original Post story mentioned that there were only two major power utilities in Vermont and that Burlington Electric was one of them, meaning it would have been easy to call both companies for comment. However, while the article mentions contacting DHS for comment, there is no mention of any kind that the Post reached out to either of the two utilities for comment. Given that Burlington issued its formal statement denying the Post’s claims just an hour and a half later, this would suggest that had the Post reached out to the company it likely could have corrected its story prior to publication.

I think this story is the classic example of fake news, used to drive an agenda.

originally posted by: BeBoo
Geez, more of this "fake news" crap at ATS. The WaPo got it wrong in the hustle to get out the story. They corrected it ASAP -- right at the top of the original article. It's still there. There were no nefarious intentions. Get over it. Stories are corrected and updated in the heat of reporting all the time. News comes out at break-neck speed now... It is not a sinister plot by the Illuminati or the Liberals. Just please. The only thing "fake" are these stupid posts here at ATS saying they are "fake."

you dont get the point.
the SCRIPTED Lie of 'russian hacking' is the Fake here.

originally posted by: loNeNLI

originally posted by: BeBoo
Geez, more of this "fake news" crap at ATS. The WaPo got it wrong in the hustle to get out the story. They corrected it ASAP -- right at the top of the original article. It's still there. There were no nefarious intentions. Get over it. Stories are corrected and updated in the heat of reporting all the time. News comes out at break-neck speed now... It is not a sinister plot by the Illuminati or the Liberals. Just please. The only thing "fake" are these stupid posts here at ATS saying they are "fake."

you dont get the point.
the SCRIPTED Lie of 'russian hacking' is the Fake here.

Exactly.

It's amazing that the left create the 'fake news' attack on others and then when they are caught time and time again pushing fake news, they say 'get over it'.

after the Iraq WMD fiasco, anyone who believes anything the CIA says without seeing solid proof, deserves to be fooled and treated like a fool.

WaPo and the MSN is the fake news.