Hacking an Election the Old Fashioned Way

Wisconsin GOP Burned for $2 Million

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MADISON, Wis. (AP) - Hackers stole $2.3 million from the Wisconsin Republican Party’s account that was being used to help reelect President Donald Trump in the key battleground state, the party’s chairman told The Associated Press on Thursday.

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[A GOP spokesman] said the hackers manipulated invoices from four vendors who were being paid to send out direct mail for Trump’s reelection efforts and to provide pro-Trump material such as hats that could be handed out to supporters. Invoices and other documents were altered so when the party paid them, the money went to the hackers instead of the vendors, Hitt said.

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The biggest mistake humankind has ever made was to build a global business culture upon the foundation of digital technology and internet business transactions. Earlier this year, I posted a story about a teenager hacking the personal social media accounts of the rich and supposedly powerful.

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personal note -- I am retiring from message boards with this post. This one is better than most, with lots of erudite members and a relatively wide variety of political opinions. Nevertheless, I see also that Factoid Battles dominate discussion. People do not just disagree. Nor do they claim that their opponents are mistaken about facts or explain why they disagree about values. Nope, this and every board are rife with posts that attack the sanity, the honesty or the intelligence of their opponents.

After 20 years of playing in that kind of sand box, the "real" world has impinged upon me, and I don't care to play anymore.

So I leave you all with the cheery thought that this medium itself is doing more to destroy the human race than covid, Trump, the DNC and all the billionaires on the planet put together. It is a now a necessity of life to have internet access and that is the craziest thing in the history of the world.

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The thieves ran away with actual loot. Cash. No political agenda required. And in the grand game of presidential elections, $2.3 million is chump change. Hackers aren't usually this savvy.

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snoopydawg's picture

I am retiring from message boards with this post.

I have enjoyed your commentary here and hope that you will reconsider some day and return. I understand why you are retiring, but saddened by it.

Take care.

Totally agree with you on this:

The biggest mistake humankind has ever made was to build a global business culture upon the foundation of digital technology and internet business transactions

Our social security numbers were never meant to be used for identification and yet here they are tied to just about everything on the net. I didn’t give credit card companies permission to take my information about credit and then let it be vulnerable to hacking. When that happened they should have paid a massive fine and then be broken up so it never happens again.

And what happened to our 4th amendment right to no searches without a warrant? Why are we being drug tested for employment? I never questioned that when I was doing them.

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

wendy davis's picture

with you in RL:

...the "real" world has impinged upon me

if you're speaking of factoids in the Covid-19 discussions, i agree that many comments are more bombastic than explanatory/educational. thus i tend to stay out of them altogether, as there are not only competing facts and studies online, but competing headlines online everywhere.

and i sure don't want to become too opinionated, thus i keep myself fairly insulated from studying the virus. science evolves, including medical science. but i'm sure not afraid i'll catch it, and most folks who come here don't wear masks, and when we ask if we should tie on bandanas to protect them from us, they demure.

given that, i think it's natural that we ask questions, even if just silently. i'd include contact tracing, the way deaths (even with co-morbidities) are recorded, not-a-real Dr. bill gates' investments in vaccines he'll be pushing (plus the new head of the WHO Tedros is not even a doctor, which has alarmed some former heads who were).

anyhoo, best to you, amigo.

p.s. one thing i'd note: blogging never really changed anything, did it? for me, it's just the only thing i have, even if it's a weak tool. one might be able to bring light to one small corner of the blogosphere... ; )

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