Now we know what all the Russiagate propaganda's been about

[ifrtbttrflys]

US designates election infrastructure as 'critical'
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-01-06-17-24-20

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Citing increasingly sophisticated cyber bad actors and an election infrastructure that's "vital to our national interests," Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson announced Friday that he's designating U.S. election systems critical infrastructure, a move that provides more federal help for state and local governments to keep their election systems safe from tampering.

"Given the vital role elections play in this country, it is clear that certain systems and assets of election infrastructure meet the definition of critical infrastructure, in fact and in law," Johnson said in a statement. He added: "Particularly in these times, this designation is simply the right and obvious thing to do."

The determination came after months of review and despite opposition from many states worried that the designation would lead to increased federal regulation or oversight on the many decentralized and locally run voting systems across the country. It was announced on the same day a declassified U.S. intelligence report said Russian President Vladimir Putin "ordered" an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the U.S. presidential election.

The door tries not to hit Jeh Johnson's ass on his way out on January 20, too.

 

[renard_ruse]

Trump is going to have a good time saying "you're fired" to the all the Bilderberg-NWO deep state stooges in the intelligence apparatus. Time to clean house at the CIA and NSA and get these globalist deep state conspirators the @#$% out.

 

[OldJourno]

I love that "Citing increasingly sophisticated cyber bad actors" line in the story. The "hack" was John Podesta stupid enough to fall for a phishing trip, along with another DNC operative.
And the information gathered from the phishing that hurt Hillary were merely emails going to and from her allies. Like the effort to shit all over Bernie Sanders and his supporters, and Hillary's penchant for telling crowds what they want to hear while she believed the opposite.
No, the veracity of the information released was never refuted.

Besides, shit like this goes on all the time by a number of countries, including the U.S.
How come only the Republicans were smart enough to use secure equipment?

 

[phrodeau]

Not all Republicans are smart enough to use secure equipment.

http://thesmokinggun.com/documents/investigation/tracking-russian-hackers-638295

A “portfolio” titled “The United States Republican Party” contains about 300 e-mails that were sent during a five-month period ending in late-October 2015.

A review of that correspondence shows that a wide variety of GOP e-mail accounts have been breached. The victims range from staffers for Senator John McCain’s campaign committee to a candidate running for State Senate in Virginia. Officials with four state Republican party organizations--Wyoming, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Illinois--had correspondence stolen. E-mails to the campaign committees of Senator Lindsey Graham, Rep. Robert Hurt, and former Rep. Michele Bachmann were also swiped. E-mails from Campaign Solutions, a leading Republican consulting firm, and the Stop Hillary PAC were pilfered.

 

[OldJourno]

I really enjoy the fact McCain's was hacked.

 

[about_average]

How come only the Republicans were smart enough to use secure equipment?

I assume you mean secure enough to not get hacked. The public report makes no mention "RNC" or "republican" so we, as yet, have no idea if they were hacked or not. Unless you're just basing that on RNC denial they were hacked.

 

[someoneyouknow]

If we're going to designate election related matters as critical that means we can finally get a verifiable paper trail and verifiable audit trail for every voting machine in the country.

As it stands now, unless you're using some form of paper ballot, there is no way to verify your vote is being correctly recorded when using an electronic voting machine and even worse, no way to audit the votes to verify something in the code isn't flipping votes.

What makes this so odd is Deibold, one of the leading providers of electronic voting machines, says it is too difficult to include a paper trail while at the same time producing millions of ATMs which conveniently provide a paper receipt upon request.

 

[ifrtbttrflys]

It only really matters what President Obama's Homeland Secretary declares now and the next ten days, as it can easily be reserved come January 20, when General John Kelly instantly replaces him.

But the significance is, even for this short time, placing America's election system under the full control of the federal government for the first time in the nation's history, and in complete constitutional offense toward the States.

It's what known as a precedent, and this one is a mother. (A precedent is set so that succeeding steps follow it up).

US move to secure election systems meets criticism

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A last-minute decision by the Obama administration to designate election systems as critical infrastructure drew intense criticism from state and federal elections organizations on Monday.

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson announced the move Friday with 30 minutes' notice to the National Association of Secretaries of State and U.S. Election Assistance Commission, an independent bipartisan federal agency that develops voluntary voting guidelines and certifies voting systems.

Officials at both agencies are criticizing the department for what they said was a failure to work with state officials to fully answer their questions about the designation before making the change.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-01-09-17-14-46

And keep in mind, Homeland Security still stands accused by the State of Georgia of attempting numerous times to hack into its election-related data bases - which is a criminal offense, if true. Other States have reported similar attempted intrusions.

How is it almost an "act of war" by Russia when it simply phishes a careless dumbass, yet the federal government intentionally tries to hack into State systems unconstitutionally and then proclaims they're taking political control over the entire deal, anyway?

The even better news about Johnson being evicted in ten days is that he can beat his power hungry chest all he wants, but the Constitution backs the States in telling that bozo, and any other bozo who follows in his unconstitutional footsteps, that the States can simply tell them all to go screw themselves.

Georgia has appealed to President-elect Trump to resolve its claims once he takes Office.

 

[Conager]

I can just imagine how safe are elections will be in the hands of Federal bureaucrats, 97.8 percent of which are Democrats. The party of no need to ID any stinkin' voters.

 

[OldJourno]

I assume you mean secure enough to not get hacked. The public report makes no mention "RNC" or "republican" so we, as yet, have no idea if they were hacked or not. Unless you're just basing that on RNC denial they were hacked.

This is such a non-story I don't even know if the Republicans said anything about being hacked. If Hillary had won we wouldn't be talking about this or making threads about it.

 

[OldJourno]

I can just imagine how safe are elections will be in the hands of Federal bureaucrats, 97.8 percent of which are Democrats. The party of no need to ID any stinkin' voters.

Good point. I think it's way more suspicious that at least one precinct in Detroit counted more votes than it had voters. Doesn't that seem more interesting? Even in today's math-challenged culture, many people might think that odd.
But we'll ignore that, and for good reason. Because before too long a Republican will introduce a voter ID bill and Democrats with absolutely shriek that there has never, ever been a case of voter fraud so such a law is pointless.
And also it's racist to demand that minority voters get ID, Democrats say.
I'm kinda thinking it's racist to claim minorities are incapable of doing so.

 

[Ishmael]

It only really matters what President Obama's Homeland Secretary declares now and the next ten days, as it can easily be reserved come January 20, when General John Kelly instantly replaces him.

But the significance is, even for this short time, placing America's election system under the full control of the federal government for the first time in the nation's history, and in complete constitutional offense toward the States.

It's what known as a precedent, and this one is a mother. (A precedent is set so that succeeding steps follow it up).



http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-01-09-17-14-46

And keep in mind, Homeland Security still stands accused by the State of Georgia of attempting numerous times to hack into its election-related data bases - which is a criminal offense, if true. Other States have reported similar attempted intrusions.

How is it almost an "act of war" by Russia when it simply phishes a careless dumbass, yet the federal government intentionally tries to hack into State systems unconstitutionally and then proclaims they're taking political control over the entire deal, anyway?

The even better news about Johnson being evicted in ten days is that he can beat his power hungry chest all he wants, but the Constitution backs the States in telling that bozo, and any other bozo who follows in his unconstitutional footsteps, that the States can simply tell them all to go screw themselves.

Georgia has appealed to President-elect Trump to resolve its claims once he takes Office.

I can just imagine how safe are elections will be in the hands of Federal bureaucrats, 97.8 percent of which are Democrats. The party of no need to ID any stinkin' voters.

So many thoughts here.

The OP is entirely correct, the states are in charge of elections, not the federal government. I'm astounded that an outgoing administration would essentially hand the keys to the electoral kingdom to an adversarial administration. Perhaps this is an issue that democrats and republicans alike can come together to stop in its tracks. We'll see.

Re. the bureaucrats, Con/Que is almost right there. The percentage probably isn't quite as high as he stated, but the fact remains that they're unelected, unaccountable, and virtually there for life. And the reason that Brexit passed.

No government employee has ever been reprimanded for saying, "No." From the lowest local janitor to the the regional heads of the EPA. They all, each and everyone, know that by saying, "No" they promote the issue one more level up the line. Saying, "Yes" is fraught with danger. "Yes" means change and change is always a risk. And if the issue goes far enough up the line a "Blue Ribbon" panel will be commissioned. A panel that will paid premium funds at the taxpayers expense. And those the initiate these "Blue Ribbon" panels know that by the time the "panel" produces the work product a new crisis will occupy the public's mind, whether real or manufactured, so they can safely ignore the 'recommendations'. For 50 years now I've watched this cycle repeat itself and now shake my head at those of a younger age who actually think that "something is being done."

I look at today's politicians and there's not a statesman among them. (The court is out on Trump, but my hopes aren't as high as some.) They all, from the local to the highest, remind me of the old "Family Circus" cartoon strip. All saying, "Not me", "I didn't do it", "It was X's fault". not a damn one willing to admit to screwing up all the while stepping forward to take credit for events that they had nothing to do with.

Call me jaded.

Ishmael

 

[about_average]

And keep in mind, Homeland Security still stands accused by the State of Georgia of attempting numerous times to hack into its election-related data bases - which is a criminal offense, if true. Other States have reported similar attempted intrusions.

How is it almost an "act of war" by Russia when it simply phishes a careless dumbass, yet the federal government intentionally tries to hack into State systems unconstitutionally and then proclaims they're taking political control over the entire deal, anyway?

Would you mind linking to the "evidence" that DHS tried to hack Georgia's, or any other state's, databases?

So far all I've seen is that a port scan was run, which isn't against the law.

I look at today's politicians and there's not a statesman among them. (The court is out on Trump, but my hopes aren't as high as some.)

WTF?
What kind of statesman attacks citizens on twitter?
You really haven't been paying attention if you think the "court is still out on Trump".

It may turn out the country enters a boom period, but he will never be a statesman.

This is such a non-story I don't even know if the Republicans said anything about being hacked. If Hillary had won we wouldn't be talking about this or making threads about it.

How is it a non-story? The intelligence agencies say they were hacked also, along with numerous other entities.
And yes, the RNC, and Trump, denied they were hacked.

 

[about_average]

The Feds designating voting systems "critical infrastructure" doesn't mean the feds have to take over state election systems.

It could be something as simple as requiring all state systems to have an audit trail and have the ability to actually do a recount. There are 14 states (I think it's 14) where it's completely impossible to do a recount.
Another step that could be put in place, without the feds taking over state election systems, it to require all systems to be subject to red team testing.

If states want to continue having shit systems for state and local elections let them have at it, the requirements could just be for federal elections.

There's nothing wrong with the feds requiring that, as much as possible, every vote count for the person for whom it was intended. Just like there was nothing wrong with them saying poll "taxes" were bad and should be abolished.

I have no problem with a set of minimum standards.
- Every system runs on open source code and that code is, by definition, public.
- Every system must have a vote audit trail (two printouts, one the voter keeps, the other the voter deposits at the polling station after confirming its accuracy
- Every system subject to red team audits.
- Voting machines are never connected to the Internet, at any time in their life cycle
- By "system" I don't mean just the voting machine, it includes everything related to it, including voter registration databases.
- No online voting as it's impossible to do and keep votes anonymous and would prevent a voter from confirming their votes.

Given the OMB and state dept hacks I wouldn't want the feds actually "owning" election systems..

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

"How is it a non-story? The intelligence agencies say they were hacked also, along with numerous other entities.
And yes, the RNC, and Trump, denied they were hacked."


It has been a non-story for years now. It only became a story when the people pulled the cape off of Hillary and the carpet out from under Obama's policies which he put on the ballot.

 

[KingOrfeo]

Trump is going to have a good time saying "you're fired" to the all the Bilderberg-NWO deep state stooges in the intelligence apparatus. Time to clean house at the CIA and NSA and get these globalist deep state conspirators the @#$% out.

What on Earth are you talking about?

 

[ifrtbttrflys]

Democrats And Republicans Unite To Rescind Last-Minute Obama Order Seeking Federal Election Takeover

All 50 state secretaries of state are urging the Trump administration to rescind a last-minute Department of Homeland Security directive calling state election systems “critical infrastructure.”

Many state officials fear this is the first step toward a federal takeover of state-run elections, The Daily Caller News Foundation has learned.

While deep political discord may be found on other issues, state secretaries — who oversee all election machinery — appear completely united against the former administration’s attempt to insert the federal government into state-run elections.

Then-Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson surprised and outraged state election officials with his Jan. 6 action, just two weeks before President-elect Donald Trump was to assume the presidency.

Johnson tried to portray his move as part of the Obama administration’s effort against Russian government hacking of Democratic Party emails during the presidential campaign.

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2017/01/24/d...king-federal-election-takeover/#ixzz4WpMsqclW

The first totally non-partisan, unanimous issue under President Trump's administration is a purely constitutional one: all 50 States rejecting tyrannically unconstitutional interjection by the previous, socialist administration.

PERFECT!

Odds are now being accepted on whether Amendment XXVIII - which would republicanly return the election of US Senators to State legislatures as the Constitution originally commanded - can be proposed in Congress, passed in Congress, and ratified by at least 38 States in time for the 2018 election.

If, say, Ted Cruz and Rand Paul in the Senate and Trey Gowdy and Jason Chaffetz in the House would now start really championing it, I put immediate odds on it succeeding at no worse than 50-50.

 

[phrodeau]

NYT reports that Donald Trump uses an unsecured Android device for tweeting.

 

[mark_j]

NYT reports that Donald Trump uses an unsecured Android device for tweeting.

So what...

 

[Conager]

NYT reports that Donald Trump uses an unsecured Android device for tweeting.

. . .and his public tweets would violate FOIA, how?

 

[phrodeau]

So what...

So it's probably already been hacked, and the hacker is just waiting for the opportune moment to send out a few choice impolitic tweets.

 

[mark_j]

So it's probably already been hacked, and the hacker is just waiting for the opportune moment to send out a few choice impolitic tweets.

Could be.. Again, So?

 

[phrodeau]

Could be.. Again, So?

https://www.wired.com/2017/01/trump-android-phone-security-threat/

The headlining concern around Trump using Android is that he’s likely not protected against phishing attacks or malware. All it takes is clicking on one malicious link or opening one untoward attachment—either of which can appear as though it were sent from a trusted source—to compromise the device. From there, the phone could be infected with malware that spies on the network the device is connected to, logs keystrokes, takes over the camera and microphone for surreptitious recording, and more.

The attack may not even be so direct. Many apps request permission to track a phone’s location for legitimate purposes, and a hacker could compromise one of these accounts to determine where the phone, and potentially Trump himself, is at any given time.

The smartphone revelation joins a number of recent concerns about the Trump administration’s cyber hygiene. The hacker known as “WauchulaGhost” told CNN this week that the @POTUS, @FLOTUS, and @VP Twitter accounts are all prime targets for attack because they use easily guessed email addresses and don’t take advantage of two-factor authentication. Meanwhile, some White House staffers, including Sean Spicer and Jared Kushner, still maintain email accounts through the Republican National Committee. The practice is legal, but dicey given controversy over George W. Bush’s use of the same system and Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server, not to mention that Russian hackers breached the RNC email system during the 2016 presidential campaign season.

 

[mark_j]

https://www.wired.com/2017/01/trump-android-phone-security-threat/

All of that is basic internet/e-mail security that everyone should know. So I'll ask again, what's your point?

 

[pointless]

beco?