Russian attempts to hack RNC were 'less aggressive and much less persistent' than DNC hacks

Rss@dailykos.com (mark Sumner) · Friday, December 16, 2016, 11:53 am

Republicans are excited about a Wall Street Journal article indicating that Russian hackers never got through the door at the RNC because of the stalwart vigilance of its cyber defenders.

Russian hackers tried to penetrate the computer networks of the Republican National Committee, using the same techniques that allowed them to infiltrate its Democratic counterpart, according to U.S. officials who have been briefed on the attempted intrusion.

But the intruders failed to get past security defenses on the RNC’s computer networks, the officials said.

Headline. Republicans too smart for Russians. Stop. Russia didn’t release RNC information because they never got in. Stop.

It’s a great narrative—for people who never managed to read as far as the subtitle.

People close to the investigation said it indicated a less aggressive and much less persistent effort by Russian intelligence to hack the Republican group than the Democratic National Committee. Only a single email account linked to a long-departed RNC staffer was targeted.

The attempt to get into the RNC was the very definition of a token gesture. Where the DNC intrusion involved going after dozens of accounts for an extended period, the vaunted “attack” the RNC survived was a shot from a Nerf gun.

Source
http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/na9bIidEPKU/-Russian-attempts-to-hack-RNC-were-less-aggressive-and-much-less-persistent-than-DNC-hacks