The Information Warfare Thread

[Stuart Galbraith]

'We must not have, an Abstract Expressionist painting gap!

[Stuart Galbraith]

Bank account of RT Britain is blocked, though for what reasons are not yet clear.

http://www.euronews.com/2016/10/17/uk-blocks-bank-accounts-of-russia-s-state-run-rt-broadcaster

[Stuart Galbraith]

http://heatst.com/world/russian-embassys-attempt-to-troll-uk-media-on-twitter-backfires/

In the last few days multiple news outlets have reported that Russia might be heading into World War 3, after the Kremlin has conducted military drills and the US-Russia relationship is reaching Cold-War heights.

The Russian Embassy in London, however, tried to downplay the situation with their well-known Russian wit and blamed the media for “war scare”, before adding “seriously!”

 

Russian Embassy, UK ✔ @RussianEmbassy

Surprised to see many people write to us begging not to start a WW3. Dear UK media, please stop the war scare, seriously! pic.twitter.com/KNear3I5Tr

Follow

Mumbles Armbandit @Mr_Grubbles

@RussianEmbassy You could stop bombing hospitals instead?

8:27 AM - 17 Oct 2016

• Russian Embassy, UK ✔ @RussianEmbassy

  Surprised to see many people write to us begging not to start a WW3. Dear UK media, please stop the war scare, seriously! pic.twitter.com/KNear3I5Tr

  Follow

  Imposter @matty_is

  @RussianEmbassy
  Simulate nuclear strike on Poland
  Threaten nukes
  Try to blackmail America with nukes
  Blame UK media. https://twitter.com/russianembassy/status/787252862522908672 …

  12:57 PM - 15 Oct 2016
• Retweets
• 10

Edited October 17, 2016 by Stuart Galbraith

[bojan]

How did a protest in front of Russian embassy go?

[Roman Alymov]

Bank account of RT Britain is blocked, though for what reasons are not yet clear.

I wonder if they would invent Soviet-style jamming broadcast stations and China-style “Great firewall” to prevent weak souls being poisoned by evil Rus propaganda

[Stuart Galbraith]

How did a protest in front of Russian embassy go?

It didn't. It's only fashionable for the British left to complain when Americans are doing the bombing. They were stacked up round the block in 1999 and 2003.

[Stuart Galbraith]

 

Bank account of RT Britain is blocked, though for what reasons are not yet clear.

 

I wonder if they would invent Soviet-style jamming broadcast stations and China-style “Great firewall” to prevent weak souls being poisoned by evil Rus propaganda

No need. No more powerful weapon on earth than British bankers.

[Stuart Galbraith]

http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/722832/Russian-cyber-attacks-US-Vladimir-Putin-America-man-arrested

Russian man detained in Prague on suspicion of running cyberattacks on US A RUSSIAN man has been detained in Prague on suspicion of running cyberattacks on the United States.

Soon after his arrest in a joint operation by the FBI and Czech law enforcement, the suspected hacker fainted and required hospital treatment.

It is unclear if he is alleged to be involved in hacking against the Democratic Party or its presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, or other alleged cyberattacks on the administration of the US election in a number of states.

America has expressed concern in recent days about Russian interference with the US presidential election by cyber attacks.

The man was not named.

He was said to be staying in a Prague hotel and driving around the city with his girlfriend in an expensive car.

A statement read: "Czech police carried out a successful joint operation with the US Federal Bureau of Investigation.

"The objective of the police was a Russian national, suspected of committing hacker attacks on targets in the United States."

The man was apprehended at his hotel within 12 hours of an Interpol alert from the FBI.

One report said: "It came as such a shock for the suspect that he did not resist at all and even lost consciousness."

It is expected that the US will seek extradition of the Russian man.

Edited October 19, 2016 by Stuart Galbraith

[Roman Alymov]

Belorussian article about Ukraine cyberwar against Belorussia and real nature of “volunteer investigators” (in Russian)

http://www.belvpo.com/ru/75163.html

[JWB]

Belorussian article about Ukraine cyberwar against Belorussia and real nature of “volunteer investigators” (in Russian)

http://www.belvpo.com/ru/75163.html

Запрашиваемая страница не найдена.

[Roman Alymov]

 

Belorussian article about Ukraine cyberwar against Belorussia and real nature of “volunteer investigators” (in Russian)

http://www.belvpo.com/ru/75163.html

Запрашиваемая страница не найдена.

 

Try it this way

Part 1: http://www.belvpo.com/ru/65899.html

Part 2: http://www.belvpo.com/ru/75163.html

[Brian Kennedy]

Stuart, the guy was a criminal not an espionage actor http://motherboard.vice.com/read/hacker-allegedly-responsible-for-massive-2012-linkedin-breach-arrested

[Stuart Galbraith]

Thanks for that Brian.

[Panzermann]

historical Information warfare:

 

http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2016/09/28/decoding-civil-war-tech-unlocks-union-telegrams.html

 

oneannahalf centuries old telegraph messages from the american civil war decrypted.

[Roman Alymov]

RT’s YouTube channels have surpassed 4 billion views, sustaining RT’s title as the world’s leading news network on YouTube, and widening its lead on mainstream media TV news channels such as CNN and the BBC.

https://www.rt.com/viral/364262-rt-youtube-four-billion-views/

[Stuart Galbraith]

Not such a great achievement when its remembered BBC and CNN actively go out of their way to remove their programmes from Youtube for copyright reasons.

[Roman Alymov]

Not such a great achievement when its remembered BBC and CNN actively go out of their way to remove their programmes from Youtube for copyright reasons.

There is a flaw in this article, typical for business competitive reports – author is comparing all RT vs competitors news channels, excluding documentaries and others. Still, remarkable as Russia is officially pariah state etc. And it is not about RT quality (it is nothing special after all) but about more people unhappy about Western news services for some reasons.

[Stuart Galbraith]

Roman, if they take the BBC reports and programmes down less than a week after they are put up, then people arent going to watch it. RT leaves their stuff up, so more people watch it. Its not such a great achievement. If the BBC had permanent channels for their reports left online, it might be a more of a level playing field. But they prefer to keep all their stuff on their own site. Personally I think a mistake, but thats the BBC for you.

[Roman Alymov]

Roman, if they take the BBC reports and programmes down less than a week after they are put up, then people arent going to watch it. RT leaves their stuff up, so more people watch it. Its not such a great achievement. If the BBC had permanent channels for their reports left online, it might be a more of a level playing field. But they prefer to keep all their stuff on their own site. Personally I think a mistake, but thats the BBC for you.

Are there any proof of RT viewing growing BECAUSE of BBC business practice you mention? It may be absolutely unrelated processes.

[Stuart Galbraith]

Lets look at it this way, the ONLY BBC programmes I can find with regularity on youtube are ones that were broadcast 40 plus years ago. And even they are being whittled down due to BBC opening an on-line shop. There have been a number of BBC dramas that have been took down (RIot at the Rite I seem to recall was online for some time then removed). The BBC war game drama on the Baltics was took down a week after someone upped it. You can look right across the board at documentaries on MH17 and others, all taken down because the BBC prefer to keep its content on its site.

 

RT by contrast continually link everything they broadcast onto Youtube. Of course more people are going to watch their stuff on youtube, simply because they are making it easier. Its not such a great acheivement when BBC and others seem to make policy of taking down third party uploads. BBC seem to put little content up on youtube other tahn previews for programmes they prefer to air on terrestrial TV or Iplayer. If its on Iplayer, BBC (which is hard up for cash) can restrict viewers whom havent paid a tv licence, ie foreign audiences. If its on youtube, they cant.

[Roman Alymov]

Lets look at it this way, the ONLY BBC programmes I can find with regularity on youtube are ones that were broadcast 40 plus years ago. And even they are being whittled down due to BBC opening an on-line shop. There have been a number of BBC dramas that have been took down (RIot at the Rite I seem to recall was online for some time then removed). The BBC war game drama on the Baltics was took down a week after someone upped it. You can look right across the board at documentaries on MH17 and others, all taken down because the BBC prefer to keep its content on its site.

 

RT by contrast continually link everything they broadcast onto Youtube. Of course more people are going to watch their stuff on youtube, simply because they are making it easier. Its not such a great acheivement when BBC and others seem to make policy of taking down third party uploads. BBC seem to put little content up on youtube other tahn previews for programmes they prefer to air on terrestrial TV or Iplayer. If its on Iplayer, BBC (which is hard up for cash) can restrict viewers whom havent paid a tv licence, ie foreign audiences. If its on youtube, they cant.

Stuart, I think we are mixing two things here: You describe marketing strategy of RT being better (in terms of growing number of viewers) then BBC one. It may well be true (and in business terms it is hardly “not such a great achievement” – sometimes business leaders are getting nice bonuses for doing things like that). But the real question is for what extent growth of RT audience is direct result of BBC mistakes? People switched to cars not because of horse sellers marketing mistakes…..

[Gregory]

 

Breaking Down the Surkov Leaks
What the leaked inbox of the Kremlin’s “Grey Cardinal” tells us about the war in the Donbass

Today, a Ukrainian hacker group called “Cyber Hunta” released a cache of emails linked to the Kremlin’s “grey cardinal” — Vladislav Surkov. This political operative is well known in the West as the creator of Russia’s “sovereign democracy” and has been the point-man for Russia’s management, and sometimes direct control, of the so-called states of South Ossetia, Abkhazia, and the self-declared Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics.

The hacked inbox was for prm_surkova@gov.ru, which was handled by his secretaries or assistants, including a “Masha” (Mariya) and “Yevgenia” (last names unclear). The majority of the emails are briefings from Surkov’s assistants, such as Aleksandr Pavlov. Some of these briefings include:

— “Information about the current internal political developments in the Republic of Abkhazia, Republic of South Ossetia, Ukraine, and the Republic of Moldova”

— “Ukraine: a calendar of announced events”

— Weekly briefing: “current picture of the situation in Ukraine”

— Weekly briefing: “Abkhazia and South Ossetia: events of the day, that have caught public attention”

However, there are also some bits of revealing information hidden under piles of minutiae, including a list of casualties in the Donbass sent from a high-ranking separatist official, expense reports for a government office in Donetsk, and requests for edits on documents that later be published under the guise of independent individuals.

...

https://medium.com/dfrlab/breaking-down-the-surkov-leaks-b2feec1423cb#.x2c6s7wnp

 

Parenthetically, I am guessing that "Cyber Hunta" in question is headquartered in Fort Meade.

[Adam Peter]

Hellary should take a lesson about official email handling from him

[bd1]

 

Đukanović had said there was a “strong connection of a foreign factor” in the alleged conspiracy to take over the Montenegrin parliament on election day, adding that the country’s authorities would investigate the extent of involvement of Russia and Serbia. Twenty people, including the former commander of special police in neighbouring Serbia, were arrested on the day of the would-be coup attempt.

The Serbian prime minister, Aleksandar Vučić, announced on Monday night that Serbian police had made more arrests of people suspected of following Đukanović and planning unspecified crimes in Montenegro.

“We have seized uniforms, money and other things, and have informed the special prosecution in Montenegro of what we know,” Vučić told a press conference. He said the suspects had no connection to the Serbian state but did have ties to an unnamed third country.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/oct/25/montenegro-investigating-russia-alleged-election-coup-plot

 

 

 

Why was Russia's top security official really in Belgrade?

A scandal without precedent in post-Soviet history has occurred in relations between Moscow and Belgrade.

SOURCE: BETA FRIDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2016 | 11:33

(EPA/Sergei Karpukhin, file)

The Beta agency reported this on Friday, quoting an article published by the Moscow-based newspaper Kommersant.

This scandal is what Secretary of the Russian Security Council Nikolai Patrushev was in Begrade to "solve" earlier this week, according to the daily.

 

Kommersant quoted a report published in the Belgrade-based newspaper Danas, which said that several Russian citizens were deported from Serbia for participation in the preparation of terrorist acts in Podgorica (Montenegro), and that "nobody has officially denied" this claim.

 

The report in the Belgrade-based daily coincided with "the unexpected arrival of Patrushev to Belgrade." Kommersant said that "local expert" think the visit's goal was to "consider the Montenegrin case" and also to "attempt not to allow a scandal in Serbian-Russian relations."

 

Kommersant further writes that Patrushev was received at the highest level, that all his meetings went under "a closed regime" and that an announcement was made at the beginning of his visit that Serbian officials were offered to sign a Memorandum of Understanding in the field of security.

 

According to the paper, however, "many local politicians and experts" doubt that the the memorandum was the main goal of Patrushev's visit - "since the memorandum had been considered before and has no binding character."

 

The article stresses that Patrushev's arrived in Belgrade came a after Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said a plan had been uncovered to forcibly take over the state institutions of Montenegro with the help of the foreign factor, "and in this way confirmed the previous information that came from Special Prosecutor of Montenegro Milivoje Katnic."

 

Kommersant added that only a brief statement was issued after Patrushev's meeting with Vucic, "whose key phrase" was that security services of Russia and Serbia cooperate successfully.

 

The newspaper said, citing unnamed sources in Belgrade, that the main task of Patrushev was "to resolve the situation and not allow a scandal in the Russian-Serbian relations" - and that, judging by the statement, "the emissary from Moscow seems to have succeeded."

 

The article concluded that Belgrade is also "not interested in a scandal, but on the other hand, does not want to be suspected of having links with criminal actions in a neighboring country."

 

http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics.php?yyyy=2016&mm=10&dd=28&nav_id=99536

 

 

what the ....?

[TTK Ciar]

Silly American question here -- how does the hat over the "c" in "Vučić" impact pronunciation?