What they actually mean when they say "Russia hacked us"

"Russian hackers."
What is actually implied is that the Russian hackers were really working out of the Kremlin.
MSNBC and CNN will come out and tell you that Putin personally hacked our computers, while Washington will never correct them.
But they know better. They always knew better.

The US State Department has announced today its intention to offer rewards of up to $10 million for any information that helps US authorities identify and locate threat actors “acting at the direction or under the control of a foreign government” that carry out malicious cyber activities against US critical infrastructure.
...Many cyber-security companies and industry experts have blamed Russia, accusing the Kremlin of tolerating and allowing these gangs to operate from its borders on the condition they don’t attack Russian organizations.

Other gangs have been seen operating from China, Iran, and North Korea.

Through its announcement today, the State Department is looking for proof that these gangs are operating with some sort of help or guidance from local regimes....
To facilitate tips, the State Department said it was willing to pay rewards in cryptocurrency and even set up a specialized dark web portal to receive anonymous tips.

They've got nothing! Absolutely nothing!
If they had just 10% of the evidence that they've been pretending they have that the Kremlin was behind any of the attacks, then they never would have taken this step.

In other total bullsh*t news about the internet, Cuba cut off internet access and Washington absolutely must do something to restore it.

So far, all President Joe Biden has offered the tens of thousands of protesters risking their lives to call for freedom in Cuba are a few words of support. It’s time to do more — by acting to secure internet access on the island.
...Biden said Thursday that he’s considering it, telling reporters: “They’ve cut off access to the Internet. We’re considering whether we have the technological ability to reinstate that access.”

That sounds like a stall: The feds should know that already, since the idea’s been suggested for years, for example when Iran’s rulers shut down the Web to squelch protests — and it’s an obvious tool to help freedom-lovers around the globe in such situations.

Yeh, how could they not have a plan? Biden and the Democrats are weak.
Ooorrrrr! Maybe this isn't an issue at all.

Psiphon Inc's freely available internet censorship circumvention tool has about helped nearly 1.4 million Cubans this week gain access to websites, the company said on Friday, after Cuba's government curbed access to popular social media and messaging platforms.

The Toronto-based company's Psiphon Network receives U.S. government financial support and also helped people in other countries including Iran and China overcome governmental restrictions on internet access....
Psiphon said 1.389 million users accessed the open web from Cuba through its network on Thursday, as well as 1.238 million as noon EDT (1600 GMT) on Friday.

So not only is this whole issue a non-issue, but Washington will spend millions for public internet in Cuba, while outlawing municipal internet at home.

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Gotta love it

A new smartphone is making waves among Trump supporters. This week, a 22-year-old self-described Bitcoin millionaire introduced the Freedom Phone, a $499 device meant to be completely free from “Big Tech’s” censorship and influence.

But it turns out the same smartphone is actually from China, and probably just a cheap knock-off.

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orlbucfan's picture

@gjohnsit Guess the hacking crooks here better get on the stick and catch up to the Russkies. Rec'd!

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Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.

Azazello's picture

US interest in Cuban internet access:
The Bay of Tweets: Documents Point to US Hand in Cuba Protests

Cuba was rocked by a series of anti-government street protests earlier this week. The U.S. establishment immediately hailed the events, putting its full weight behind the protestors. Yet documents suggest that Washington might be more involved in the events than it cares to publicly divulge.
As many have reported, the protests, which started on Sunday in the town of San Antonio de los Baños in the west of the island, were led and vocally supported by artists and musicians, particularly from its vibrant hip-hop scene.
“For those new to the issue of Cuba, the protests we are witnessing were started by artists, not politicians. This song ‘Patria y Vida’ powerfully explains how young Cubans feel. And its release was so impactful, you will go to jail if caught playing it in Cuba,” said Florida Senator Marco Rubio, referencing a track by rapper Yotuel.
Both NPR and The New York Times published in-depth features about the song and how it was galvanizing the movement. “The Hip-Hop Song That’s Driving Cuba’s Unprecedented Protests,” ran NPR’s headline. Yotuel himself led a sympathy demonstration in Miami.
But what these accounts did not mention was the remarkable extent to which Cuban rappers like Yotuel have been recruited by the American government in order to sow discontent in the Caribbean nation. The latest grant publications of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) — an organization established by the Reagan administration as a front group for the CIA — show that Washington is trying to infiltrate the Cuban arts scene in order to bring about regime change. “A lot of what we do today was done covertly 25 years ago by the CIA,” NED co-founder Allen Weinstein once told The Washington Post.

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We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.

By making that offer the US government establishes cryptocurrency as legal tender, a recognized alternative to the US dollar. They will weepingly regret it.

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

If they had just 10% of the evidence that they've been pretending they have that the Kremlin was behind any of the attacks, then they never would have taken this step.

What? the vaunted 17 intelligence agencies of Russiagate fame and the super duper private companies claiming to be cybersecurity experts (for a price) can't figure out who and how to stop the ransomware guys? USA!USA!

This program will just re-enforce the utter incompetent handling of cybersecurity by Western companies. Matt Stoller wrote an article on how Solarwinds neglected cybersecurity concerns for years. The ransomware attack on the pipeline company looks to have been started by a simple phishing to gain a password (and it seems that their VPN access lacked 2-factor authentication).

When the breaches are known, immediately every Russiagater and grifter blames the super duper genius hackers sitting in the Kremlin (hire me!). All of this diverts from the fact that companies did not want to invest in even simple security measures and tools or even simple training So not their faults. Ivan did it. Carry on.

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