The Russia watch2018 midterms vulnerabilities; KGB & origin of fake-news strategy; newly uncovered GRU online personas, and more

Why the 2018 midterms are so vulnerable to hackers (Evan Osnos, New Yorker)
Russian interference, obsolete voting machines, and tight races—lots of them—could be a chaotic combination.

American elections remain unprotected (Reid Standish, The Atlantic)
Ahead of the 2018 midterms, the threat of Russia-linked cyber and disinformation campaigns still looms large.

Russian hacker: I have proof the Kremlin ordered DNC attack (Adam K. Raymond, New York Magazine) Russian hacker Konstantin Kozlovsky, who says he was ordered by the Kremlin to crack into the Democratic National Committee’s servers in the summer of 2016, now claims to have proof.

Bipartisan Senate bill would boost election security aid to states (Derek B. Johnson, FCW)
A new bipartisan Senate bill seeks to boost the level of federal support to state local officials in order to protect the nation’s election infrastructure from foreign cyber interference.

Congressional Republicans are pulling a bait-and-switch in the Trump-Russia investigation (Susan Hennessey, Benjamin Wittes, Foreign Policy) In an ideal world, congressional investigations are bipartisan undertakings, and the public can take assurance that an inquiry will conclude only when both sides agree they are prepared to issue reports, either independently or together. But signs are mounting that the House Intelligence Committee plans on prematurely abdicating its work. 

Meet “Posh George”: The shady money man tangled up with Brexit, Russia, and Trump (Nico Hines, Daily Beast)
Why did Nigel Farage take a dark web fraudster to the Republican convention? And what did this young money-laundering maven tell the feds when they busted him?

Inside a Russian disinformation campaign in Ukraine in 2014 (Ellen Nakashima, Washington Post)
By the morning of Feb. 22, 2014, it was clear that the government of Viktor Yanukovych, the beleaguered pro-Russian president of Ukraine, had fallen, amid protests sparked by his decision not to move toward a closer relationship with the European Union. Into the tumult leapt Russia’s military spy agency, the GRU, which launched a covert influence operation — one that presaged what Moscow would do in the United States two years later.

Details on newly uncovered GRU online personas (Aric Toler, Bellingcat) New reports offer details on GRU (Russian military intelligence) activities in creating fake profiles on social networks, along with “astroturfed” political activist groups.

Mueller investigation: Did Trump, Kushner and RNC help Russia use big data to target U.S. voters? (Cristina Maza, Newsweek)
Special counsel Robert Mueller is questioning Republican National Committee (RNC) staffers about whether the Trump campaign’s digital operations team worked with Russia to target U.S. voters, Yahoo News reported on Wednesday. Russia used social media and political advertising to target voters and foment social discord during the 2016 campaign. Russian online posts masqueraded as American far-right and far-left political entities and even attempted to ignite racial tensions. Russian trolls and bots also targeted social media users across the U.S. in the lead-up to the election. The Mueller team is now focusing on whether Trump’s team –especially, a joint RNC and Trump campaign data operation, which was managed by Jared Kushner — helped Russia target voters in key swing states through online ads.

Putin’s Scots-based “misinformation” agency hires Labor councilor (David Leask, The Herald)
Russian propaganda agency Sputnik has hired a former Labour candidate who describes himself as a “loyal Corbynite”.

Russia is getting more confident about infiltrating U.K. territories (LIanna Brinded, Defense One)
Over the past few years, Russian sea units have popped up all over the borders of Britain’s territorial waters.

Revealed: The secret KGB manual for recruiting spies (Michael Weiss, Daily Beast)
The document is from the Cold War. But the material it teaches is still being used today by Vladimir Putin’s clandestine cadres.

Old KGB spy manual reveals origin of fake-news strategy (Michael Martin, Metro)
“To increase the contradictions among imperialist states, bourgeois political parties and individual figures.” A long-secret how-to manual for Russian spies reveals that many Cold War-era tactics used by the KGB look very similar to Russia’s online meddling in the 2016 election.