# Russia Hacks 2016 Presidential Election **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 18, 2016, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-hacks-2016-presidential-election/775076 "2016-12-18T20:05:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2016, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-hacks-2016-presidential-election/775076/21 "2016-12-20T00:20:59Z")
> [@Okrahoma](#): > > And I refuse to call phishing a “hack”. A hack implies a modicum of skill, technical proficiency or knowledge on the part of the perpetrator, and at least some resistance/defense on the part of the victim. Nope, phishing is a widely known method of hacking. I mean you don’t have to call it that, but don’t get upset if everyone else in the world does. Also, we’re talking about the GRU and FSB here, and between them they’re responsible for cyber attacks on the White House (twice), the State Department, the Joint Chiefs, DOE, the Pentagon, several financial, legal, manufacturing and media entities, think tanks and universities, the DNC, NATO, the Uzbekistan and South Korea governments the German parliament, and a French TV station among many other lesser known government entities and NGOs in Europe and Asia, Brazil, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, China, Mexico, Georgia, Iran, Japan, and Malaysia. While they do use spear fishing, they also use custom malware and zero-day exploits and are known to be on the level of nation state actors. They did, in fact, use more advanced tools and techniques on DNC computers once they were inside. If you’re looking for “a modicum of skill, technical proficiency or knowledge on the part of the perpetrator,” there it is. These groups are some of the most skilled in the world. If you need “at least some resistance/defense on the part of the victim,” well here ya go: [Top Democrat's emails hacked by Russia after aide made typo, investigation finds | Democrats | The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/dec/14/dnc-hillary-clinton-emails-hacked-russia-aide-typo-investigation-finds) The DNC had been defending against phishing attacks for a while but made a typo when reporting one email and accidentally called it “legitimate” instead of “illegitimate.” Someone who spends a few months under phishing attack from a nation state actor and has one little slip up is hardly stupid. ---
**Author:** ![Okrahoma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90db22/32.png) [@Okrahoma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Okrahoma)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2016, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-hacks-2016-presidential-election/775076/22 "2016-12-20T00:34:25Z")
> [@Fubaya](#): > > The DNC had been defending against phishing attacks for a while but made a typo when reporting one email and accidentally called it “legitimate” instead of “illegitimate.” Someone who spends a few months under phishing attack from a nation state actor and has one little slip up is hardly stupid. Oh please. The “typo” excuse is one of the more laughably ridiculous things about this whole rigamarole. Was the “a” in front of “legitimate” also a typo? ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-hacks-2016-presidential-election/775076/23 "2016-12-22T00:15:43Z")
> [@Okrahoma](#): > > Oh please. The “typo” excuse is one of the more laughably ridiculous things about this whole rigamarole. Was the “a” in front of “legitimate” also a typo? You’re right, the earlier story misquotes him. He actually [meant](http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2016/12/an_interview_with_charles_delavan_the_it_guy_whose_typo_led_to_the_podesta.html) to type “not a legitimate email” and forgot the “not.” [Here](https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/34899) is the actual email chain where he shared the correct link for Podesta to reset his google password. For whatever reason, Podesta clicked the bit.ly link contained in the phishing email instead. ---
**Author:** ![bardos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bardos/32/1069_2.png) [@bardos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bardos)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-hacks-2016-presidential-election/775076/24 "2016-12-22T02:29:00Z")
Remember how Bin Laden reportedly shied away totally from electronic devices because he figured that it was a highly probable scenario that spies in the sky would be able to pinpoint his location… In the same vein I wonder if Hillary and Podesta have resorted to communicating by human messenger carrying coded notes on paper. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-hacks-2016-presidential-election/775076/25 "2016-12-22T02:59:48Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > But the emails did start a conspiracy theory that the Clintons were behind a child sex ring in a pizza restaurant, which spurred a young armed man to invade the restaurant in order to free the children hidden in secret tunnels below a part of the restaurant used to play table tennis. (Holy shit, did I just type that out in all seriousness, or have I gone completely insane?) > > Thus, the fact that the emails were innocuous doesn’t mitigate that real world reactions to the emails were not necessarily innocuous or inconsequential. That’s a little misleading. AFAWK, the person who started the fake news story was not connected in any way to the folks who leaked the e-mails. That person could have used any other excuse to start the story, including referencing emails that were part of the original disclosure to the FBI. The e-mails didn’t “start a conspiracy theory”. Someone, not involved with the e-mail leak, started the story, and use the e-mails as an excuse. ---
**Author:** ![Evan\_Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b487fb/32.png) [@Evan\_Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evan_Drake)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-hacks-2016-presidential-election/775076/26 "2016-12-22T04:05:14Z")
> [@bardos](#): > > In the same vein I wonder if Hillary and Podesta have resorted to communicating by human messenger carrying coded notes on paper. Or each have a crate of pigeons wherever they go, just like the old days. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-hacks-2016-presidential-election/775076.md?page=1)