JRL NEWSWATCH: “Cold War in Cyberspace; Western military hackers have penetrated Russian targets, from tech giants to the nationwide power grid, reports say” – Transitions Online/ Ky Krauthamer

File Image of Stylized Eye Surrounded by Binary Code

“… a U.S. Senate report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election … relayed intelligence assessments that Russian government hackers scanned electoral systems in all 50 states, looking for weaknesses …. Russian meddling reportedly continued as the 2018 midterm elections neared … [DHS indicated that there were] ‘numerous actors … regularly targeting election infrastructure, likely for different purposes, including […]

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Dirty Tricks: Navalny Aide’s Bid For Moscow Duma Seat Brings Out The Worst

Kremlin and Saint Basil's File Photo

(Article text ©2019 RFE/RL, Inc., Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty – rferl.org – Dmitry Volchek, Robert Coalson – June 26, 2019 – article text also appeared at rferl.org/a/dirty-tricks-navalny-aide-bid-for-moscow-duma-seat-brings-out-the-worst/30022120.html) On the face of it, the task ahead of 31-year-old lawyer Lyubov Sobol seems simple enough. To qualify as a candidate for the September 8 Moscow City Duma elections, Sobol just needs to […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Americans Are Easy Marks for Russian Trolls, According to New Data; A Daily Beast analysis of Twitter data shows the Kremlin troll farm’s English-language propaganda is nine times more effective than its disinformation in Russian.” – Daily Beast/Kevin Poulsen

Montage of Instagram, Twitter and Facebook Logos, adapted from image at nps.gov

“… Best estimates trace the founding of the Internet Research Agency to August 2013, and for eight months of its existence the Saint Petersburg troll farm was focused on influencing citizens in Russia and Russia’s near abroad. Then in April 2014 the Kremlin-linked organization launched ‘Project Lakhta,’ according to federal prosecutors, aimed squarely at the United States. The IRA’s first […]

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