Friday 6 January 2017

Evidence for Putin hacks is scant, but suggestive

There must be many computer professionals who have felt frustrated at the broadcast media coverage of the Russian hacking dispute. So far we have seen and heard men in suits with no demonstrable IT knowledge, directors of US agencies and the outgoing president on one side, Trump, Putin and Assange on the other in a public "did - didn't" argument, with practically no hard evidence cited to back their cases. Thus the man and woman in the street are guided as to what to believe solely by their judgment of the worth of the people involved. Inevitably, that is bound to be swayed by their political leanings.

There is a Time magazine article which does provide some numbers (literally) to support part of the case against Putin. However, these come from a private organisation. (The Democrats were loth to let the CIA into their computer estate at the time because Hillary Clinton saw federal security agencies as politically biased.) We really need the CIA and official agencies to provide their broader analysis, which can be forensically examined by independent experts.

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