WikiLeaks founder’s Internet connection cut by a “state party”

Roger Stone, a campaign strategist for Donald Trump, then tweeted that WikiLeaks would soon begin to publish e-mails and communications from John Podesta’s computers – and, indeed, a week ago WikiLeaks began releasing a few thousands of Podesta’s e-mails on a daily basis.

The U.S. intelligence community, and cybersecurity experts, have concluded that Russian hackers, working for two hacking units affiliated with Russian government agencies, were behind the hacks.

In a joint statement earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence on Election Security attributed the hacking of the Democratic National Committee to the Russian government, and said that “only Russia’s senior-most officials could have authorized these activities.”

“The U.S. Intelligence Community (USIC) is confident that the Russian government directed the recent compromises of emails from U.S. persons and institutions, including from U.S. political organizations,” the statement read. “The recent disclosures of alleged hacked emails on sites like DCLeaks.com and WikiLeaks and by the Guccifer 2.0 online persona are consistent with the methods and motivations of Russian-directed efforts. These thefts and disclosures are intended to interfere with the U.S. election process. Such activity is not new to Moscow — the Russians have used similar tactics and techniques across Europe and Eurasia, for example, to influence public opinion there.”

Trump challenged the conclusions of the U.S. intelligence community and independent cyber experts – after earlier urging Russian hackers to continue hacking Clinton’s computers – saying that the hacks could be the work of a “400-pound man” sitting on his bed in the basement.

During the second debate, he charged that Clinton and the Democrats “always accuse Russia.”

The BBC notes that WikiLeaks had issued a series of three messages over Twitter during the weekend. Each one began “pre-commitment” and then the number 1, 2, or 3, followed by a short phrase, and then an assortment of letters and numbers.

Putin has instructed Russian government agencies to help Trump win the election, but U.S. officials said they doubted that the Russian digital campaign would have much of an effect on the elections.

“The USIC and the Department of Homeland Security assess that it would be extremely difficult for someone, including a nation-state actor, to alter actual ballot counts or election results by cyberattack or intrusion,” the joint statement by DHS DNI read. “States ensure that voting machines are not connected to the internet, and there are numerous checks and balances, as well as extensive oversight at multiple levels, built into our election process.”

President Barack Obama said that cyberattacks by Russian hackers would not be tolerated, as White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters on Air Force One: “There are a range of responses that are available to the president, and he will consider a response that is proportional. It is certainly possible that the president can choose response options that we never announce.”