Guccifer 2.0

Not to be confused with Guccifer.

"Guccifer 2.0" is a person or persona stating they were 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 say they 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, state that some of the genuine leaks that Guccifer 2.0 has said were part of a series of cyberattacks on the DNC were committed by two Russian intelligence groups.[12][13][14][15][16][17] The Russian government states it had no involvement in the theft.[18] Wikileaks founder Julian Assange said that multiple parties had access to DNC emails and that there was no proof that Russia was behind the attack.[19]

According to various cyber security firms and U.S. government officials, Guccifer 2.0 is a persona that was created by Russian intelligence services to cover for their alleged interference in the 2016 US presidential election.[20][21]

Identity

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 cover up Russian responsibility.[20][21] 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.[20] 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.[21] 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.[21] 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] The hackers that were responsible for the DNC email leak (called Fancy Bear by the cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike) seem to have not been working (on the DNC's servers) on April 15, which in Russia is a holiday in honor of the Russian military's electronic warfare services.[22]

Background

On June 21, 2016, in an interview with Vice "Guccifer 2.0" stated that he is Romanian.[23][24] On June 30, 2016, "Guccifer 2.0" stated that he is not Russian.[25][26] However, despite stating that he was unable 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 said that this was "a diversion that’s being pushed by the Hillary Clinton campaign."[31] Journalist Emma Grey Ellis has written that "it's a little weird" that Assange has hosted a program on RT, a Russian state-run news channel.[32] U.S. intelligence analyst Malcolm Wrightson Nance stated that Assange has long disliked Clinton,[33] and Wikileaks' official Twitter account has issued many political tweets condemning her campaign.[34]

Computer hacking activities

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 stated 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 state they are 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.[9][39] Guccifer 2.0 said 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.[40][41] The Clinton Foundation denied it was hacked. 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.[9][10] Ars Technica reviewed the documents and found that they were likely taken from previous breaches of the DNC and DCCC, with some of the material fabricated as propaganda.[11]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Uchill, Joe (2016-07-13). "Guccifer 2.0 releases new DNC docs". The Hill. Retrieved 2016-07-27.
  2. 1 2 3 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. 1 2 3 Uchill, Joe (2016-07-22). "WikiLeaks posts 20,000 DNC emails". The Hill. Retrieved 2016-07-24.
  5. 1 2 3 "'Lone Hacker' Claims Responsibility for Cyber Attack on Democrats". NBC News. 2016-06-16. Retrieved 2016-07-27.
  6. 1 2 3 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. 1 2 3 4 Cox, Joseph (2016-07-22). "Guccifer 2.0 Claims Responsibility for WikiLeaks DNC Email Dump". Motherboard. Retrieved 2016-07-27.
  8. 1 2 3 4 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. 1 2 3 Vankin, Jonathan (2016-10-04). "READ: Guccifer 2.0 Clinton Foundation Hacked Documents". Heavy.com. Retrieved 2016-10-08.
  10. 1 2 Williams, Katie Bo (2016-10-04). "Alleged Guccifer 2.0 hack of Clinton Foundation raises suspicions". The Hill (newspaper). Retrieved 2016-10-08.
  11. 1 2 Gallagher, Sean. "Guccifer 2.0 posts DCCC docs, says they're from Clinton Foundation". Ars Technica. Retrieved 21 October 2016.
  12. 1 2 3 "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 2 3 Rob Price, Yes, Russia really did hack the Democratic National Committee, Business Insider (June 21, 2016).
  21. 1 2 3 4 Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai, 'Guccifer 2.0' Is Likely a Russian Government Attempt To Cover Up Their Own Hack, VICE News (June 16, 2016).
  22. ↑ Economist, Staff of (24 September 2016). "Bear on bear". Economist. Retrieved 25 October 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. 1 2 3 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. 1 2 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. 1 2 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. 1 2 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. 1 2 3 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. ↑ "Clinton Foundation Denies Hacking Claim". Fortune (magazine). 2016-10-04. Retrieved 2016-10-08.
  41. ↑ Sainato, Michael (2016-10-04). "Breaking: Guccifer 2.0 Releases Trove of New Clinton Foundation Docs". New York Observer. Retrieved 2016-10-08.
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