Guccifer 2.0

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Not to be confused with Guccifer.

"Guccifer 2.0" is a person or persona claiming to be the hacker(s) that hacked into the Democratic National Committee (DNC) computer network and then leaked its documents to the media[1][2] the website WikiLeaks,[3][4][5][6][7] and a conference event.[8] Some of the documents they claim to have released appear to be forgeries cobbled together from public information and previous hacks, which they then salted with disinformation.[9][10][11]

Cybersecurity experts and firms, including CrowdStrike, Fidelis Cybersecurity, Mandiant, SecureWorks, ThreatConnect, and the editor for Ars Technica,[12] as well as the US intelligence community, believe that some of the genuine leaks that Guccifer 2.0 has claimed were part of a series of cyberattacks on the DNC committed by two Russian intelligence groups.[12][13][14][15][16][17] The Russian government claims it had no involvement in the theft.[18] Wikileaks founder Julian Assange said that there was no proof that Russia was behind the attack.[19] Assange has stated that he has sympathy for both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.[20]

Various cybersecurity experts have speculated that "Guccifer 2.0" is likely a creation of the Russian state-sponsored hacking groups thought to have executed the attack, invented to coverup Russian responsibility.[21][22] The cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike, which analyzed the data breach, "posits that Guccifer 2.0 could be 'part of a Russian Intelligence disinformation campaign'"—i.e., a creation to deflect blame for the theft.[21] Russia has made use of the invention of "a lone hacker or an hacktivist to deflect blame" in the past, deploying this strategy in previous cyberattacks on the German government and the French network TV5Monde.[22] Thomas Rid of King's College London, a cybersecurity expert, states that it is "'more likely than not' that the whole operation, including the Guccifer 2.0 part, was orchestrated by Russian spies," and others concur.[22] As of July 2016, US intelligence was not yet certain whether the breaches were normal espionage or whether they are part of a concerted effort by Russia and Wikileaks to attempt to manipulate the 2016 US Presidential election.[12]

Background[edit]

On June 21, 2016, in an interview with Vice "Guccifer 2.0" claimed that he is Romanian.[23][24] On June 30, 2016, "Guccifer 2.0" stated that he is not Russian.[25][26] However, despite claiming not to be able to read or understand Russian, metadata of emails sent from Guccifer 2.0 to The Hill showed that a Russian-language-only VPN was used.[27] When pressed to use the Romanian language in an interview with Motherboard via online chat, "he used such clunky grammar and terminology that experts believed he was using an online translator."[27]

On July 18, 2016, government spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied Russian government involvement in the DNC theft.[28]

On July 25, 2016, during an interview with Democracy Now!, Julian Assange, editor in chief of WikiLeaks, said that no one knows WikiLeaks' sources. He adds that "the dates of the emails that [WikiLeaks] published are significantly after all—or all but one, it is not clear—of the hacking allegations that the DNC says have occurred."[29] The same day, Assange told NBC News that "it's what's in the emails that's important, not who hacked them."[30] When asked by NBC News if WikiLeaks might have been used to distribute documents stolen as part of a Russian intelligence operation, Assange replied: "There is no proof of that whatsoever. We have not disclosed our source."[31] Assange, who once briefly hosted a program on RT, a Russian state-run news channel,[32] said that this was "a diversion that’s being pushed by the Hillary Clinton campaign."[31] Assange has a well-known personal disdain for Hillary Clinton and Wikileaks' official Twitter account issued a large number of political tweets condemning her campaign.[33][34]

Computer hacking activities[edit]

Main article: 2016 Democratic National Committee email leak

On June 14, 2016, according to The Washington Post, the DNC acknowledged a hack[35] which was claimed by Guccifer 2.0.[4][5][6][7][25][36]

On July 18, 2016, Guccifer 2.0 provided exclusively to The Hill numerous documents and files covering political strategies,[2] including but not limited to correlating the banks that received bailout funds with Republican Party and Democratic Party donations.[2]

On July 22, 2016, the hacker Guccifer 2.0 claimed he hacked, then leaked, the DNC emails to WikiLeaks.[4][5][6][7][25][36] “Wikileaks published #DNCHack docs I'd given them!!!”, tweeted Guccifer 2.0.[7]

On September 13, 2016, during a conference, an unknown and remote representative of Guccifer 2.0 released almost 700 megabytes worth of documents from the DNC.[37] Forbes also obtained a copy of those.[8] Which focused on the DNC’s information technology infrastructure and analysis of party donors.[38] Still according to Forbes, on September 12, 2016, ahead of that conference, Guccifer posted a public Twitter message in which he confirmed that his representative was legitimate.[8] The Russian government denied any involvement.[37] The DNC, the DCCC, U.S. intelligence officials, and other experts speculated about Russia involvement.[37] NGP VAN, who claims to be the “leading technology provider” for the Democratic campaigns, declined to comment on Guccifer 2.0's recent statements.[8]

On October 4, 2016, Guccifer 2.0 released almost 860 megabytes of documents allegedly taken from the Clinton Foundation.[10][39] Guccifer 2.0 claimed those documents implicate the Clinton Foundation and alleged Clinton Foundation donors in embezzlement from the $475 billion TARP public funds intended for what is often known as the “Wall Street Bailout” of 2008, however the donor list does not match that of the Clinton Foundation and instead seems to have been taken in the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee hacks.[9][40] The Clinton Foundation denied it was hacked and claimed that the documents are a forgery by Russian government propagandists. One journalist remarked that it seems absurd that Clinton's team would have actually named a file "Pay for Play" on their own server, as Guccifer 2.0's screen shots of the alleged hack show.[10][11]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Uchill, Joe (2016-07-13). "Guccifer 2.0 releases new DNC docs". The Hill. Retrieved 2016-07-27. 
  2. ^ a b c Joe, Uchill (2016-07-18). "New Guccifer 2.0 dump highlights 'wobbly Dems' on Iran deal". The Hill. Retrieved 2016-07-27. 
  3. ^ Savage, Charlie (July 26, 2016). "Assange, Avowed Foe of Clinton, Timed Email Release for Democratic Convention". NYT. Retrieved August 4, 2016. 
  4. ^ a b c Uchill, Joe (2016-07-22). "WikiLeaks posts 20,000 DNC emails". The Hill. Retrieved 2016-07-24. 
  5. ^ a b c "'Lone Hacker' Claims Responsibility for Cyber Attack on Democrats". NBC News. 2016-06-16. Retrieved 2016-07-27. 
  6. ^ a b c Biddle, Sam (2016-07-22). "New Leak: Top DNC Official Wanted to Use Bernie Sanders's Religious Beliefs Against Him". The Intercept. theintercept.com. Retrieved 2016-07-24. 
  7. ^ a b c d Cox, Joseph (2016-07-22). "Guccifer 2.0 Claims Responsibility for WikiLeaks DNC Email Dump". Motherboard. Retrieved 2016-07-27. 
  8. ^ a b c d Fox-Brewster, Thomas (2016-09-13). "Democrat Hacker Guccifer 2.0 'Appears' At London Show -- Here's What Was Said". Forbes. Retrieved 2016-09-23. 
  9. ^ a b "Clinton Foundation Denies Hacking Claim". Fortune (magazine). 2016-10-04. Retrieved 2016-10-08. 
  10. ^ a b c Vankin, Jonathan (2016-10-04). "READ: Guccifer 2.0 Clinton Foundation Hacked Documents". Heavy.com. Retrieved 2016-10-08. 
  11. ^ a b Williams, Katie Bo (2016-10-04). "Alleged Guccifer 2.0 hack of Clinton Foundation raises suspicions". The Hill (newspaper). Retrieved 2016-10-08. 
  12. ^ a b c "Spy Agency Consensus Grows That Russia Hacked D.N.C.". New York Times. Retrieved July 26, 2016. 
  13. ^ Shieber, Jonathan; Conger, Kate. "Did Russian government hackers leak the DNC emails?". TechCrunch. Retrieved July 26, 2016. 
  14. ^ Rid, Thomas. "All Signs Point to Russia Being Behind the DNC Hack". Motherboard. Retrieved July 25, 2016. 
  15. ^ "Wikileaks posts nearly 20,000 hacked DNC emails online". Providence Journal. July 22, 2016. 
  16. ^ "DNC email leak: Sanders calls for new leader as Clinton camp blames Russia". The Guardian. July 24, 2016. 
  17. ^ "DNC email leak: Russian hackers Cozy Bear and Fancy Bear behind breach". The Guardian. July 26, 2016. 
  18. ^ Moscow denies Russian involvement in U.S. DNC hacking, Reuters (June 14, 2016).
  19. ^ Alex Johnson, WikiLeaks' Julian Assange: 'No Proof' Hacked DNC Emails Came From Russia, NBC News (July 25, 2016).
  20. ^ [1]
  21. ^ a b Rob Price, Yes, Russia really did hack the Democratic National Committee, Business Insider (June 21, 2016).
  22. ^ a b c Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai, 'Guccifer 2.0' Is Likely a Russian Government Attempt To Cover Up Their Own Hack, VICE News (June 16, 2016).
  23. ^ Franceschi-Bicchierai, Lorenzo (2016-07-21). "Here's the Full Transcript of Our Interview With DNC Hacker 'Guccifer 2.0'". Vice (magazine). Retrieved 2016-08-03. 
  24. ^ Franceschi-Bicchierai, Lorenzo. "We Spoke to DNC Hacker 'Guccifer 2.0'". Vice (magazine). Retrieved 29 July 2016. 
  25. ^ a b c Guccifer 2.0 (2016-06-30). "FAQ from Guccifer 2.0". GUCCIFER 2.0. Retrieved 2016-07-24. 
  26. ^ McBride, Jessica (2016-07-25). "Guccifer 2.0: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know". Heavy. Retrieved 2016-07-27. 
  27. ^ a b Joe Uchill, Evidence mounts linking DNC email hacker to Russia, The Hill (July 26, 2016).
  28. ^ "Hacker Guccifer 2.0 claims new DNC data leak | Fox News". Fox News. 2016-07-18. Retrieved 2016-07-25. 
  29. ^ Democracy Now! (2016-07-25), EXCLUSIVE: WikiLeaks' Julian Assange on Releasing DNC Emails That Ousted Debbie Wasserman Schultz, retrieved 2016-07-26 
  30. ^ Johnson, Alex (2016-07-25). "Julian Assange: 'No Proof' Hacked DNC Emails Came From Russia". NBC News. Retrieved 2016-07-26. 
  31. ^ a b J. Clara Chan, WikiLeaks' Julian Assange Denies Russian Role in DNC Hack: 'No Proof Whatsoever', The Wrap (republished on Yahoo News) (July 25, 2016).
  32. ^ Ellis, Emma Grey. "WikiLeaks Has Officially Lost the Moral High Ground". Retrieved 13 October 2016. 
  33. ^ Zappone, Chris (14 September 2016). "Wikileaks drops latest Guccifer 2.0 data on Hillary Clinton, DNC, Democrats". Retrieved 13 October 2016. 
  34. ^ Mackey2016-08-06T19:04:25+00:00, Robert MackeyRobert. "What Julian Assange's War on Hillary Clinton Says About WikiLeaks". Retrieved 13 October 2016. 
  35. ^ Nakashima, Ellen (2016-06-15). "'Guccifer 2.0' claims credit for DNC hack". Washington Post. Retrieved 2016-07-25. 
  36. ^ a b Mackey, Robert (2016-07-26). "If Russian Intelligence Did Hack the DNC, the NSA Would Know, Snowden Says". The Intercept. Retrieved 2016-07-27. 
  37. ^ a b c Winter, Tom (2016-09-13). "'Guccifer 2.0' releases more DNC docs, including Tim Kaine's cell number". NBCNews.com. Retrieved 2016-09-23. 
  38. ^ "Guccifer 2.0: More hacked DNC documents revealed at cyber conference". RT (TV network). Retrieved 2016-09-23. 
  39. ^ Berkeley, Reno (2016-10-04). "News Of Guccifer 2.0 Hacks Diverts Attention From Real Issues Of Clinton & Government Corruption". Inquisitr. Retrieved 2016-10-08. 
  40. ^ Sainato, Michael (2016-10-04). "Breaking: Guccifer 2.0 Releases Trove of New Clinton Foundation Docs". New York Observer. Retrieved 2016-10-08. 

External links[edit]

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