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White House Vows 'Proportional' Response For Russian DNC Hack (go.com) 396

Posted by BeauHD from the back-to-you dept.
After the Director of National Intelligence and Department of Homeland Security publicly blamed Russia for stealing and publishing archived emails from the Democratic National Committee on Friday, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said today that President Obama will consider a "proportional" response. ABC News reports: "We obviously will ensure that a U.S. response is proportional. It is unlikely that our response would be announced in advanced. It's certainly possible that the president could choose response options that we never announce," Earnest told reporters aboard Air Force One. "The president has talked before about the significant capabilities that the U.S. government has to both defend our systems in the United States but also carry out offensive operations in other countries," he added. "There are a range of responses that are available to the president and he will consider a response that's proportional." The Wall Street Journal report mentions several different ways to response to Russia. The U.S. could impose economic sanctions against Moscow, punish Russia diplomatically, opt to allow the Justice Department to simply prosecute the hacks as a criminal case, and/or launch a U.S. cyberattack targeting Russia's election process. Of course, each response has its pros and cons. "They could escalate into a more adversarial conflict between both countries," writes Carol E. Lee for the Wall Street Journal. "But the absence of a response could signal that such behavior will be tolerated in the future."
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White House Vows 'Proportional' Response For Russian DNC Hack More

White House Vows 'Proportional' Response For Russian DNC Hack

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  • Yeah, by hardening our defenses you morons (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 11, 2016 @04:57PM (#53058217)

    Seriously, hacking Russia back is the dumbest way they could respond to the DNC (a private organization, so they keep stressing every time voter fraud is brought up) hack.

    • Re:Yeah, by hardening our defenses you morons (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 11, 2016 @05:10PM (#53058291)

      Something about the government retaliating over a private organizations poor security seems off putting... even if it is about the election. It is sad that showing the truth and what politicians say to moneyed interests behind closed doors is seen as a danger to our democracy.

      Oh, for Clinton, well then we have the exception for all rules! Let's talk about grabbing pussy instead.

      In times of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act.

      • Re:Yeah, by hardening our defenses you morons (Score:4, Insightful)

        by ArmoredDragon ( 3450605 ) on Tuesday October 11, 2016 @09:30PM (#53059537)

        Something about the government retaliating over a private organizations poor security seems off putting... even if it is about the election. It is sad that showing the truth and what politicians say to moneyed interests behind closed doors is seen as a danger to our democracy.

        Nepotism, basically. They might frame it as a national security issue, but I highly doubt they would do the same for any other political party.

      • Comrade, your phrasing in English is poor. You must study the words and phrases of the imperialists before you spar with them.

      • I can see why you'd think that, but the Navy protects our private shipping from pirates and so on. Laws essentially protect private property and conduct under force of the government. If the government only protected government property it would be significantly less useful.
      • An attack on any party (R, G, D, etc.) and it should be considered an attack on the fundamental process of voting. If it was truly Russia, focussing solely on the DNC shows implicit support for the other candidate. Do we want Russia to select the Commander in Chief? The DNS was doing some shady shit it would seem. Fault them for that, but let's not pretend the Republicans are completely innocent.
    • "We pay our security companies to undermine global computer security and then blame other countries for stealing our unprotected secrets. Lets nuke someone for taking advantage of our own ignorance" - United States Government.

    • Seriously, hacking Russia back is the dumbest way they could respond to the DNC (a private organization, so they keep stressing every time voter fraud is brought up) hack.

      How do they plan to do that? Leak Putin's emails to all his associates and help the leaders of the Communists to gain support? Only problem - they have nobody there who can stand up to Putin the way Trump stands up to Obama and Clinton

      • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

        by Anonymous Coward

        I'm a bit baffled about these hacks being government sponsored by Russia. The Democrats are notoriously the weaker party in terms of military might and proud of it, and Russia has proven to outmaneuver both Obama with everything and Clinton with the notorious reset button debacle.

        All jokes about Trump aside, what benefits Russia by having an unpredictable Trump presidency versus a very predictable Clinton presidency? If it's as simple as Trump having complimented Putin, then it suggests that Trump is a very

      • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

        by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        Trump couldn't stand up to Putin, that's why Putin wants him to be leader. Putin has already made Trump his bitch, keeping him in the race by supplying dirt on Clinton and the DNC.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by dublin ( 31215 )

      Nah, the Obama administration clearly doesn't have the guts to nuke the Russkys - just look at how they're letting them move missiles to threaten eastern Europe.

      I figure they'll decide to hack the GOP to get even...

    • Re:Yeah, by hardening our defenses you morons (Score:4, Funny)

      by ShanghaiBill ( 739463 ) on Tuesday October 11, 2016 @06:33PM (#53058725)

      Seriously, hacking Russia back is the dumbest way they could respond to the DNC

      They don't need to hack Russia. Obama could just have the NSA hack the RNC, and release all of their emails. At least that would even things up.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by guises ( 2423402 )
      So... what you're saying is that when someone punches you, the right response is to curl up into a little ball so it doesn't hurt as much? You certainly shouldn't punch back or call the police or something.... right? Or were you trying to imply something with that "private organization" comment that I missed? It's the American government's job to protect not just itself, but all Americans and American interests from foreign powers.

      I read a suggestion that the Russian election hacks were more about sowing

      • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

        by rickb928 ( 945187 )

        Why is our federal government even retaliating for a breach at a political party?

        Oh, yeah. The US government is an agency of the Democratic National Committee.

        Pus.

        • Re: (Score:3)

          by guises ( 2423402 )
          Why are you asking me that question? I already answered it: "It's the American government's job to protect not just itself, but all Americans and American interests from foreign powers."

          • In this instance, as in some others, the roles are inappropriate.

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by guises ( 2423402 )
              I'm not sure what you mean by "the roles," but the essence of what you're saying seems to be: "There are some instances where the US government should just stand by and let foreign powers fuck with American people or organizations." Is that what I'm hearing here? Am I getting this right?

              • Sounds more like, "The US government should just stand by and let foreign powers fuck with American people or organisations that I happen not to like, especially Democrats."

    • The DNC isn't the only target... We've seen a number of reports of state voter registration databases under attack, and those are attacks on our government.

  • After all the manning, wikileaks and hack-leaks ? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 11, 2016 @05:01PM (#53058237)

    Is ANYONE really taking anything ANY politician says about ANYTHING for face value after all these Snowden, Manning, WikiLeaks and hack-leaks it should be utterly clear that the entire political class in the USA is beyond redemption and corrupted to the bone.

    There is no rational discussion to have at this point. The whole system and the power players in place today are so corrupted and criminal its PROOF the media is completely in the bag to pain a picture - facebook, google, twitter, the media, the government - they all LIE by default - they lie, omit and change the narrative AT ALL TIMES.

    Even secondary sources like slashdot, fark, reddit, this versioning of reality and total disregard of the facts and evidence is quite commonplace.

    The reality you see online is YOUR version. You BELIEVE this version and look for snippets to support it.

    But the SOURCE for many things, such as the LEAKS and EMAILS, and the like show and PROVE there is a vast concerted effort to propagandize and "PR" the news.

    Liberty is dead. Publius is dead. Free speech is on the chopping block and anonymous use of the internet is about to come to a close as it has in China. We will be in mind-prisons.

    Best find an Oculus and live in a false reality - the base reality we live in has turned so "1984"-ish its really quite scary.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by LeftCoastThinker ( 4697521 )

      So lets shit can the major two parties and vote for Gary Johnson. Hillary stole the election from Bernie on top of being a liar and a criminal and enabling her husbands rape of women and the list goes on. Why anyone would vote for her is beyond me.

      • Re: (Score:2, Troll)

        by Holi ( 250190 )
        Exactly how was the primary stolen? 16.9 million voted for Hillary and 13.2 million voted for Bernie. Seeing the divide between the two camps I really doubt any of the shenanigans that happened behind the scenes had any noticeable affect on the split. The people spoke, or at least the Democrats did. Nothing was stolen and you insult the majority when you make that baseless claim.

    • This! (Score:5, Interesting)

      by s.petry ( 762400 ) on Tuesday October 11, 2016 @05:30PM (#53058405)

      I refuse to watch any "NEWS" and am very selective about the Radio stations I listen to. From those, I take political comments as false and if I feel like investigating will attempt to prove otherwise. The media in the US today is at the same level of propaganda we made fun of with the Pravda in Russia back in the 80s (sorry folks, I'm a hardened old cynical bastard, much worse than your ordinary cynical bastard).

      The latest hysteria about Trump for example: Trump said very clearly that he would ask his Attorney General to assign a Special Prosecutor to investigate the Clinton's. Sounds reasonable to most of us considering the amount of corruption that surrounds them (worded intentionally, so read what I wrote instead of what you want to see). Media report: Trump is going to randomly jail people. He's a dictator, he's a this, he's a that.

      I have taken hundreds of hours to read transcripts and watching full speeches to validate context. I can find almost nothing the media says that is true. Nearly every allegation with the exception of McCain is over hyped bullspittle which requires a complete lack of context and cherry picking.

      Meanwhile, potentially real crimes are being buried under the same hype and hysteria. Perhaps the FBI is investigating the DNC, the Media, and the Ultra wealthy responsible for some things. The Media won't report it even when there is a finding, like why is either Comey or Hillary not up on perjury charges? One of them flat out lied to the US Congress.

      One thing the US desperately needs is a anti-trust case to break up the media monopolies so that we can get out of the damn echo chamber. We were warned by real journalists when they started allowing monopolization that this would occur, and dang if those people were not right.

      • Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)

        by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Tuesday October 11, 2016 @05:42PM (#53058475)
        Comment removed based on user account deletion

        • Who cares that Hillary armed the moderate beheaders in Syria for the sole purpose of making Israel comfortable with a nuclear Iran, knowing full well doing so would unite jihadi forces to create something exactly like ISIS leading to 400k war dead, the crimes against humanity committed by ISIS, the terrorist attacks committed in their name in Paris, Nice, Orlando, San Bernardino and other places, the migrant crisis that threatens to destabilize all of western Europe, by running weapons through Benghazi that

        • Anyone who doesn't believe that the media and this administration is corrupt after the head of the FBI admitted under oath that Hillary Clinton committed multiple crimes, from storing classified information on an unsecured private server

          Not a crime when done unintentionally.

          to destroying evidence (both digitally and physically)

          The requested change in retention policy that led to the deletion of the emails came last October, before a subpoena was issued and after they delivered what they thought were all the work emails.

          The actual deletion happened in March, after the subpoena. It's hard to know exactly what happened but it seems most likely that the contractor was just being lazy, found out about the subpoena and figured he screwed up, and then figured he could get away with deleting the subp

      • Media. Crity. I do watch to see what they're serving up today. I check the take on things like the debate or a loss-of-life(lol) story by viewing CNN, Fox, and MSNBC for 15 to 20 minutes each to see how disparate the reporting is.

        Locally, the editor of our paper suffers from garnering ad revenue in a deep red state, while wearing his collared shirt over a deep blue heart. I wonder why freedom of the press so distantly resembles this ideal I have from my childhood.

      • I refuse to watch any "NEWS" and am very selective about the Radio stations I listen to.

        I.e. you create an information bubble.

        The media in the US today is at the same level of propaganda we made fun of with the Pravda in Russia back in the 80s (sorry folks, I'm a hardened old cynical bastard, much worse than your ordinary cynical bastard).

        You're also terrible at judging bias.

        The latest hysteria about Trump for example: Trump said very clearly that he would ask his Attorney General to assign a Special Prosecutor to investigate the Clinton's.

        He also said "You'd be in jail". And at the RNC convention, where he and his team made the program, Chris Christie held a show trial where he convicted Clinton and there were multiple chants of "lock her up" with zero pushback from the speakers.

        It is quite likely that prosecuting Clinton would be a prerequisite of anyone getting the job of Trump's attorney general.

        Sounds reasonable to most of us considering the amount of corruption that surrounds them (worded intentionally, so read what I wrote instead of what you want to see).

        What corruption? The Clinton Foundation? It is by all appearances a ve

      • If there's one thing the Chief Executive should *not* be, it's capricious.

      • Threatening to jail your political opponents is not normal and not acceptable, whatever your further opinions on policy are.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by HiThere ( 15173 )

      If you waited this long to notice, you're hopeless. Snowden only confirmed what was obvious anyway. And the Republicans are not any cleaner at all, in ways they are worse.

      The questions is "What are you going to do about it?". My personal evaluation is that any workable approach is going to cause so much hardship that nobody with an ounce of empathy or foresight would recommend it.

      OTOH, the Singularity *IS* coming, and by my estimate before 2035. (I actually estimate 2030, but there's no real reason for

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by dbreeze ( 228599 )

      AC gets the win...

  • Amazing (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 11, 2016 @05:04PM (#53058251)

    Hillary is going after the video gamer vote so hard she promises to make Fallout real.

  • I bet Putin welcomes any US-cyber-aggression - (Score:5, Insightful)

    by ffkom ( 3519199 ) on Tuesday October 11, 2016 @05:06PM (#53058273)
    if only to more easily convince his people to use domestic IT products rather than the US-made stuff (which contains backdoors for at least the US government agencies and backdoors for some far-east agencies which were added by the manufacturers who actually produced the hardware).
  • I'm being serious, I'm not sure what a proportional response would be. Attacking any their infrastructures would seem heavy handed, if not a invitation to war. Such as using something like stuxnet. At the same time, attacking their financial institutions would just invite a similar response.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Archangel Michael ( 180766 )

      Actually, the only people caught hacking the elections have been the DNC. The Russians just exposed that which many of us already believed to be true, as the truth. The problem is, that the truth is worse than even we understood.

      I am not sure how anyone could be a Democrat, let alone vote for Hillary after this.

      (NO, I am NOT voting for Trump)

  • why is this a national issue? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Trailer Trash ( 60756 ) on Tuesday October 11, 2016 @05:13PM (#53058305) Homepage

    The DNC supposedly got hacked, not the US government. The US government has absolutely no reason to offer *any* response. The DNC might get angry about it (and maybe they can use that to continue to try to change the story away from their internal corruption) but they're not the US government.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by zlives ( 2009072 )

      proportional response would be to add the dnc CTO to the uscert email alerts and send them to security class.
      and let them know that its ok to say no to any asshat that says can i play angrybirds on my secure phone.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Actually, I do RTFA ( 1058596 )

      The DNC supposedly got hacked, not the US government. The US government has absolutely no reason to offer *any* response.

      If a Russian missile shoots down a Delta flight, I expect the US government to react. If a Russian torpedo sinks a US oil tanker, I expect the US government to react. What kind of strange world do you live in where state level actors only respond to threats by other state level actors if the threats are leveled against the state.

      In your mind, could the Russian army invade the US withou

      • The DNC supposedly got hacked, not the US government. The US government has absolutely no reason to offer *any* response.

        If a Russian missile shoots down a Delta flight, I expect the US government to react. If a Russian torpedo sinks a US oil tanker, I expect the US government to react. What kind of strange world do you live in where state level actors only respond to threats by other state level actors if the threats are leveled against the state.

        In your mind, could the Russian army invade the US without the US government reacting unless they crossed into federal land?

        Because no harm was done to *anybody* except DWS. And she needed to go, anyway, given her level of incompetence.

        Are you seriously comparing an airplane being shot down or an oil tanker being sunk to some internal emails from a political organization being leaked to the press?

  • WTF (Score:3)

    by zlives ( 2009072 ) on Tuesday October 11, 2016 @05:13PM (#53058307)

    ok lets not care about security, lets put convenience on the forefront and then start an electronic war rather than deal with the actual cause.
    well that has been our modus operandi when it comes to actual wars and foreign policy so why change now.

    time to invest in the next gen govt electronic military industrial contractors. yayyyy raytheon stock will go up

  • Hopeless.

    That's what the fucking idiots in the whitehouse apparently are: hopeless shits who are too busy trying to figure out who has the biggest dick to even *think* about the long term consequences of this kind of action.

    What the fuck are they even thinking they will accomplish by retaliating? It doesn't take two seconds to realize that all that will do is escalate the situation.... while obviously the whitehouse shouldn't just ignore it, the sensible thing to do is harden their defenses against su

    • Re:Stop the planet, I want to get off (Score:4, Insightful)

      by labnet ( 457441 ) on Tuesday October 11, 2016 @05:59PM (#53058557)

      Seriously.... this is how wars start. And considering the powers that are involved, this can't possibly end well.... for anybody.

      Have you considered that this is EXACTLY what they want.
      More war. The manipulation of the media has become so obvious as to make them useless except for local news.
      eg.
      95% of news stories in Australia on US politics are Trump bashing. (Much of which he deserves)
      Hillary gets next to zero news stories. (She must be super unappealing for that to happen)
      Putin is portrayed as some evil psychopath, but when you listen to his speeches, he seems like a pretty rational dude that doesn't have that extra layer political fakeness of western politicians.

      I would say the military industrial complex is chomping at the bit for more war to line their pockets.

  • Proportional response for Russia / number of emails stolen by Russia * number of email scoped up by NSA = proportional response for USA

  • Assuming they were involved (Score:5, Funny)

    by Orgasmatron ( 8103 ) on Tuesday October 11, 2016 @06:08PM (#53058611)

    Assuming that Russia or Russians were actually involved, what is appropriate here? Gift basket? Flowers? How do I chip in for the card?

  • ...and/or launch a U.S. cyberattack targeting Russia's election process

    Because subverting another country's electoral process is such a stellar idea, such an imaginative and mature and nuanced response.

    What's up with those fucktard writers at the WSJ anyway? Are they angling for jobs at Fox?

  • This business will get out of control. It will get out of control and we'll be lucky to live through it.

  • Idea (Score:3)

    by rainer_d ( 115765 ) on Tuesday October 11, 2016 @07:04PM (#53058905) Homepage

    Lock their kids' accounts on Steam. That'll teach them.

  • Good chance some 3rd party is trying to push the US and Russia into conflict.

  • Anything but reality (Score:5, Interesting)

    by dave562 ( 969951 ) on Wednesday October 12, 2016 @12:05AM (#53060091) Journal

    Stay focused on the Russians.

    Pay no attention to the actual content of the emails.

    Pay no attention to the Clinton Foundation.

    Pay no attention to the media running their stories past the campaign before their editors.

    Pay no attention to the...

  • Does that not defeat the whole purpose of a punishment? They are not talking about preventive measures.... Punishment is supposed to deter future behavior by making it obvious that it brings about consequences. Is this something that needs to be explained to the father of two children (who is sometimes known as POTUS)?

  • So, did the White House draw a line in the sand with this?

  • The DNC was hacked, and damaging info about Hillary was released. What's proportional? The CIA/NSA releasing some of the dirt they've collected on him over the years. If Putin wants to make our system look bad by releasing dirt on one of the players, we can do the same.

  • So it's not a secret nor hidden war anymore. Which is sad since there are already enough wars going on, don't you think?

    Having said that, I wonder which democratic Russian institutions will be targeted? Are there any?

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