GRU Hacked Burisma last November - NYT

[blogslut]

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Nicole Perlroth
@nicoleperlroth

BREAKING: As the November impeachment hearings got underway, Russia's GRU hacked Burisma in what appears to be a repeat of 2016, when GRU hackers breached the DNC and then selectively leaked emails to hurt Clinton's candidacy. https://nytimes.com/2020/01/13/us/politics/russian-hackers-burisma-ukraine.html with @AllMattNYT

With President Trump facing an impeachment trial over his efforts to pressure Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and his son Hunter Biden, Russian military hackers have been boring into the Ukrainian gas company at the center of the affair, according to security experts.

The hacking attempts against Burisma, the Ukrainian gas company on whose board Hunter Biden served, began in early November, as talk of the Bidens, Ukraine and impeachment was dominating the news in the United States.

It is not yet clear what the hackers found, or precisely what they were searching for. But the experts say the timing and scale of the attacks suggest that the Russians could be searching for potentially embarrassing material on the Bidens — the same kind of information that Mr. Trump wanted from Ukraine when he pressed for an investigation of the Bidens and Burisma, setting off a chain of events that led to his impeachment.

The Russian tactics are strikingly similar to what American intelligence agencies say was Russia’s hacking of emails from Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman and the Democratic National Committee during the 2016 presidential campaign. In that case, once they had the emails, the Russians used trolls to spread and spin the material, and built an echo chamber to widen its effect...

[applegrove]

1. When i was a kid i had a cat that would catch critters and bring them

to us and leave them at our feet. I doubt Trump directly asked Russia for this but they do have a symbiotic relationship so there is no doubt this was to help Trump.

[Brother Buzz]

2. It's quite clear what the hackers didn't find.

This isn't rocket surgery, people

[rzemanfl]

4. I wanted to be a rocket surgeon, but they said my launch pad manner was

offensive.

[Hortensis]

6. +1. Let's hope Beau didn't step on a puppy underfoot

and fail to apologize profusely enough to satisfy the owner, though. Any story "proving" what a bad person Beau was would also be claimed as proof of corruption by malicious partisan liars everywhere. Deja vu all over again.

[blm]

3. Trying to plant bogus materials against Hunter Biden? I have no doubt.

That is why Giuliani kept peddling the claim there was evidence and why Barr made sure he was seen publicly as open to evidence against Biden.

[lpbk2713]

7. Very likely IMO.

If they couldn't dig up any dirt they would be sure to leave some.

[Takket]

5. well let's see..........

Russia did something awful in 2016

They got exactly what they wanted because of it

They suffered 0 consequences for doing it

And we're supposed to be surprised that they are doing it again............... just wait until the Democrats finalize their nominee.

Priority #1 for the US and our allies once we get rid of drumpf is going to need to be finding some way of isolating Russia from the internet.

[OliverQ]

8. Russia is going to get Trump elected again.

If Joe Biden wins the primary, he'll be treated just like Hillary. The media will amplify the Burisma/Ukraine nonsense and it will be used against him all the way up to the election.