RUSSIA: THE KREMLIN HACKED… BUT WHO WAS THE CULPRIT? THE ...

September 20, 2015 / Joseph P. Farrell /

This one was shared by Ms. K.M., and it's a story that I have to pass along to you, with our usual high octane speculation. The article is a short one, but it contains one little bit of a bombshell right at the very end, that makes one wonder: is there a wider context in play?

Before we get to that "wider context" however, here's the article:

Russia reports 'very powerful' hack of Kremlin

Before we get to the high octane speculation, a bit of history might be in order. During the Reagan administrations, there was a scandal - still going on according to some investigators, and it is in fact a view that I share -- involving the INSLAW corporation, its founder, Mr. William Hamilton, and a piece of sophisticated software his company had been developing for the Department of Justice, then under the oversight of Reagan appointee Attorney General Ed Meese. This software, called PROMIS (PROsecutor's Management Information Software) was allegedly stolen by the DOJ, and then underwent several modifications at various CIA fronts, which included the incorporation of backdoors which would allow anyone installing the software to snoop on the computer networks it infected. The software itself was a prime plumb for various reasons, not the least of which was its alleged ability to read any type of database composed in any type of code. It thus became a prime candidate for other types of modifications for financial and intelligence purposes. The story goes that some versions were sold to Israel, which nation's famous Mossad intelligence service then modified it yet again with more backdoors of its own, and then leaked the software to rival Arab nations, such as Egypt and Iraq. Investigative journalist Daniel Casolaro was hired by Mr. Hamilton to investigate the theft of his software, and Casolaro did that, and then some, uncovering a huge rogue international network of spies, drug traffickers, weapons smugglers, and financial fraud that all had one thing in common: INSLAW's PROMIS software. Casolaro, for his efforts, was suicided and found in a bathtub in his motel room with several slashes on both arms, one of many deaths surrounding the INSLAW case.

So where does Russia fit into all of this? During the same time period that INSLAW's powerful software was being stolen and modified, the new French government of President Francois Mitterand had a sudden intelligence windfall: a high-ranking Soviet KGB Colonel with access to sensitive KGB files offered to spy for France. French counter-intelligence ran this colonel for years as a French mole within the KGB until he was eventually discovered, arrested, and eventually executed for treason by the Soviets, but not before he may have done significant damage to the entire KGB intelligence apparatus, and more importantly, significant damage to actual physical infrastructure inside the Soviet Union. The KGB Colonel, whom the French had codenamed "FAREWELL," had obtained the KGB's "technology shopping list" of items it wanted to steal from the West and bring to the Soviet Union, among which was (you guessed it), computer software.

When Presidents Mitterrand and Reagan met for the first time in Montreal, during a "lull" in the conversations, and when their aides were conveniently out of earshot, President Mitterrand reportedly informed President Reagan of the French mole, and as proof of the fact, provided Reagan with a copy of the KGB's "shopping list." From here, the story took a definite INSLAW-PROMIS twist, as American intelligence saw to it that the KGB was able to steal the software - which some, this author included, assume was some version of PROMIS - which software had been doctored by the addition of a covert backdoor which allowed the US access to sensitive Soviet computer networks. A few months later, this was supposedly used to create a malfunction on a Soviet gas pipeline, which blew up with such force that the explosion approached the yield of a small nuclear weapon, and which was visible in space. Thus was put to rest the notion that France never spies on anyone, and that the USA never uses its cyber capabilities to physically damage its geopolitical opponents.

In the wake of the disaster and the apprehension of "FAREWELL" by Soviet counter-intelligence, the result is easily predictable: the Soviets would have made an extremely careful and thorough review of the entire operation, and accordingly, devoted increased resources to their own cyber warfare security and offensive capabilities. We know the result, as Russian cyber-warfare experts are reputedly some of the finest in the world.

Which brings us at last to today's unusual story, and these statements:

Reuters said the attack targeted the election commission in Russia.

“Defense systems worked though it was not easy,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, the Hill reported. “The attack was rather strong.”

Peskov said Russian authorities haven’t yet determined the source of the attack, but said it was tied to Sunday’s political elections. That race only allowed one opposition candidate to run against the Kremlin-backed politico – a controvsial limit that angered many seeking fresh faces in the government.

“Given that, you will certainly be interested to know that from 5 to 10 a.m. on Sunday a very powerful attack was simultaneously carried out on the Russian president’s website,” Peskov said.

“Someone tried to hack our website and alter the data there, making 50,000 requests per minute,” said Russian Central Election Commission Chairman Vladimir Churov, at the press conference. “They failed and we have already established the culprit – it’s a company based in San Francisco.” (Emphases added)

Clearly, the Russian government suspects the purpose of the attacks was to fix the elections in Russia, and included attempts to hack the official website of the Office of the President of the Russian Federation, or, to put it country simple, Mr. Putin's official website.

For our high octane speculation purposes, however, we note that the Russians are alleging that the attacks originated from a corporate source based in San Francisco. Notably, no corporation is mentioned, nor is any supporting or corroborating evidence given for the assertion. But assuming this allegation to be true for the sake of argument, it does raise considerably the stakes and context of all those mysterious events in the San Francisco Bay area, from the strange, and quite professionally executed, attack on an electrical power substation, to the more recent physical attacks on various internet cable hubs in the region. Connecting all the dots together, it suggests - and suggests quite strongly - that there's a real cyber and covert warfare being waged in the region, that Russia is involved on the receiving (and perhaps giving) end, and that such reports and incidents might well be parts of a much larger pattern of such affairs, regardless of when and where they occur. The real question to be asked is whether or not these most recent attacks on the Russian systems originated from the USA, or from some other player. The article ends with the mention of Chinese hacking, but to this author's eye, this is suspect. The idea that China and Russia would not conduct espionage against each other is absurd, but so is the idea that they would do so in such a fashion as to endanger their growing working relationships. And that suggests, in its turn, that the West, and the USA, gvien the increased tensions with Russia, are the most likely suspects.And, as I've said many times: two can play the covert operations game(and its appears are doing so). If the USA(or anyone else) can attempt to modify Russian computerized election systems, nothing is to prevent external modifications to American systems during American elections. Ponder that, as you ponder which set of corrupt politicians to vote for by computer in the upcoming (s)election cycle.

This is a story well worth watching, and watching from the standpoint of connecting dots and incidents.

See you on the flip side...

Posted in In the News

Joseph P. Farrell

Joseph P. Farrell has a doctorate in patristics from the University of Oxford, and pursues research in physics, alternative history and science, and "strange stuff". His book The Giza DeathStar, for which the Giza Community is named, was published in the spring of 2002, and was his first venture into "alternative history and science".

15 Comments

DanaThomas on September 24, 2015 at 1:51 am

Volkswagen monkey business over on-board computers and exhaust emissions. “Conspiracy theories” are flying around: it’s either a US plot to damage the German economy, a way to make a killing on the stock market, no-holds-barred in-fighting in the auto industry etc.
But it also might have something to do with the whole “global warming” scam, “green certificates” and related derivatives…
Anyway here’s a summary by The Guardian on how the on-board computer “knew” it was in test mode and adjusted emissions data accordingly:
http://www.theguardian.com/business/ng-interactive/2015/sep/23/volkswagen-emissions-scandal-explained-diesel-cars
yankee phil on September 21, 2015 at 4:02 am

The florida vote in 2000 should have been a wakeup call to all americans as the Bush cartel fixed the electronic and paper(chad) votes successfully. No one expected the fix in the supreme court as well and abbra cadabbra no revote on an obviously compromised voting end tally(changed the total at least 7 times during the recounts,always finding Bush was stealing votes from Al Gore). Going on line to vote, with the NSA in total control of the internet, is like handing over the government to Google. They fixed the vote in at least 5 different ways and NO ONE went to jail,no investigation was ordered into the incident by the courts , congress the incumbant or even the opposition, the wimp even accepted the defeat results when he was the winner by the actual (popular) vote count knowing Bush and his brother were robbing and stealing his votes AND the constitution allowed him to split the presidency if he so choose to sit in the oval office with the criminal. Gore abandoned the American people and allowed a known felon to take the highest office in America,perhaps the world. What kind of crap is running the country,isn’t the CIA,FBI,State police and the local dog catcher supposed to protect us from this corruption,isn’t the right to a fair vote the only thing that separates our country from darkest Africa and the Borneo cannibals? When they ask what Superman stands for the old “truth ,justice,and the american way” will be replaced with “Arbied macht frei”
- goshawks on September 21, 2015 at 4:43 pm
  
  Yeah, I was disappointed/infuriated that Gore did not ‘hold out’ for the final FL vote counts and/or challenge the Supremes. He just folded.
  
  At the time, I was innocent enough to believe Gore had probably been ‘leaned on’ to capitulate through various threats. Now, I wonder whether he was a part of the whole charade/puppet-theater…
  - zendogbreath on September 21, 2015 at 6:32 pm
    
    He was. And they were. And are.
    
    Robert Greenwald did quite abit on it along with Bev Harris atBlackboxvoting.org.
    
    Plenty of good worthy documentaries on it.
    
    It all makes the older conspiratory theories clearly not theory anymore.
    
    For awhile there, Al Franken was even jumping and shouting on Air America about the corrupt players. Now he seems to becoming one. Wonder what Paul Wellstone would think. Wonder why Wellstone’s family would let a Harvard Communications Grad take over his legacy.
zendogbreath on September 20, 2015 at 8:33 pm

Alright, I’m clear on the facts of life that it’s all a game and puppet show where quite a few of the puppets do get killed and kill each other. Either way though, the results of all the fighting do nada to endanger the puppet masters and everything to enrich them while consolidating power for them away from the rest of us.

So please verify: is Putin’s puppetmasters (in politically correcter terms- Putin’s creditors) the same as everyone else’s. If not who are they? Are they not the royals, jorge b’s boys and the redshield banks?
- goshawks on September 20, 2015 at 8:46 pm
  
  (No idea whether these facts are right, but…)
  
  Brother Nathanael Kapner:
  
  “When Putin was elected President of Russia in 2000, Russia was bankrupt.
  
  The nation owed $16.6 billion to the Rothschild-run ‘International Monetary Fund’, while its foreign debt to the Rothschild-controlled ‘Paris & London Club of Creditors’ was over 36 billion dollars.
  
  But, Putin took advantage of the current boom in world oil prices by redirecting a portion of the profits of Russia’s largest oil producer ‘Gazprom’ so as to pay off the country’s debt. The continual surge in oil prices greatly accelerated Russia’s capacity to restore financial sovereignty.
  
  By 2006, Putin had paid off Russia’s debt to the Rothschilds. Russia’s financial dependence on the Jewish financiers was now over.”
  - zendogbreath on September 21, 2015 at 6:25 pm
    
    Interesting. It sounds likely up to the point of Russia getting out of the redsheild pocket. This last round of brinksmanship in Ukraine while the oil price was plunged (1st quarter 2015) showed Putin still listens closely to the banksters. He had nothing until a trip to Switzerland and back. That might have been about the same time Kerry broke a leg riding the Alps.
    
    Anyone else got anything along these lines. And hopefully from a better source than Mr Kapner? Wow that guys got a long google list. youtube had this for keywords to search: Brother Nathanel AKA Milton Kapner exposed.
    
    I like it little when heinous and important truths get broadcast and the broadcaster’s reputation gets assassinated. I like it less when someone of ill repute gives that ill repute to the truth that he broadcasts.
DaphneO on September 20, 2015 at 6:51 pm

I would imagine that the US would be doing everything it can to get rid of Putin, who appears to be a real thorn in its side.

Or if not Americans, maybe that fifth column, living in America, which has caused Russia so much trouble over the years. Or more likely I guess, they work together. Anything to get rid of Putin.
marcos toledo on September 20, 2015 at 10:57 am

If I was China, Russia, North Korea I be in my easy chairs laughing my had off. Watching the banana republic election-selection circus in the CSA-USA third world empire it’s always been. A empire that has always ruled by white supremacy barbarism whose motto has been “ignorance is strength” and “order out chaos” a oxymoron as ever there was.
basta on September 20, 2015 at 10:08 am

So Silicon Valley is making friends in Russia. Indeed, no wonder their internet service is so spotty these days.

And as for retaliation in-kind, US “election” software and systems are a very well-known (bad) joke, so bad and so easily hackable that the main supplier, Diebold, had to change its name to keep in the racket.

(A disgruntled MIT statistician reviewed the 2004 presidential election results and published a paper examining the +3% deviancy between exit polls showing Kerry as winner and the reported results for Bush the Lesser. He calculated the probability of that +3% discrepancy occuring as several zillions of trillions to one (IIRC, ten zeros or so), as exit polls have some 60+ years of district-by-district voting histories behind them and margin-of-error is thus fine-tuned and easily predictable and should never rise more than one/two-tenths of a percent.

And if you remember Karl Rove’s infamous meltdown over the results for Ohio, raving “This is impossible!” over and over again like a cheap-suit version of mad King Lear, you know that he went crazy because his hack had been re-hacked just under the wire.)

But what’d be the point of outsiders hacking US elections? Perhaps if they were hacked to have a 98% to 2% result, just to mock the effrontery of the normal in-house hacks-of-right, then I can see it might be worth the effort. And it’d be a perfect commentary on “free elections” in the home of the slave.
- goshawks on September 20, 2015 at 7:17 pm
  
  I was watching the TV when Bush the Younger’s first bid for Presidency was underway. Dan Rather was covering the election results. When enough polling results had come in for Florida, Rather ‘called it’ for Gore. Routine, and professional.
  
  Then, not long later, the ‘official’ ballot count came out. It was for Shrub. Rather was dumbfounded by that call, and blurted-out on-air that he had never seen such a discrepancy between polling results and ballot results. When you watched his face/body language, he was truly surprised.
  
  I believe the Florida election was the first electronic ‘tampering’ with our election system.
  
  (Being in Jeb’s state, the ‘fix’ could be drawn-out. Then, the Supremes voted along party lines (appointed by Bush the Senior, and possibly Reagan) to crown Shrub, and it was done…)
loisg on September 20, 2015 at 9:22 am

This is sort of an aside, but I heard years ago that all the developers of the PROMIS software were suicided, does anyone know anything about whether that is true or not?
- Don B on September 21, 2015 at 6:42 am
  
  Lois,
  I recall the investigative reporter (Casalero??) being suicided but I don’t recall that the inventors were suicided. I may be off here. db
Robert Barricklow on September 20, 2015 at 8:46 am

Good.
Like those organizations going back to the typewriter for truly secret operations; perhaps, for more secure elections, many will go back to the paper ballots.
Updating Stalin’s, The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the vote decide everything. So now is it who hacks the vote? Or perhaps, who last hacked the votes, before the established “winner” was established?
- Robert Barricklow on September 20, 2015 at 8:52 am
  
  Not that anybody on the ballot is worth a damn
  [most of the time].
  Some initiatives[GMO issues for instance] are.