The Russia watchRussia hacks internet routers globally; Russia World Cup TV blackout; Putin’s hackers could target NHS, and more

Published 17 April 2018

· U.S. and U.K. blame Russia for hacking internet routers globally

· Russia World Cup TV blackout: Putin’s cyber war against U.K. will devastate ‘soft targets’

· How Russian Facebook ads divided and targeted U.S. voters before the 2016 election

· State Dept: No one better about lying over US role in world than Russia

· Pentagon claims 2,000% increase in Russian trolls after Syria strikes. What does that mean?

· Russia reacts to U.S.-led strikes in Syria with a blizzard of fake news and troll attacks

· Russian general’s claim of 71 missiles downed countered by experts, evidence

· Vladimir Putin’s hackers could target the NHS – and our homes

U.S. and U.K. blame Russia for hacking internet routers globally (Levy Maxey, Cipher Brief)
On Monday, the U.S. and UK jointly blamed Moscow for cyber intrusions into the backbone of the internet – the routers and switches that are the gateway for internet access in major corporations and your home office.

State Dept: No one better about lying over US role in world than Russia (John Delk, The Hill)
“One of the things that I do is deal with combating Russian disinformation,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told CNN. “There’s no one better, in the world, about lying about [the] U.S. role in the world than Russia.”

How Russian Facebook ads divided and targeted U.S. voters before the 2016 election (Issie Lapowski, Wired)
When Young Mie Kim began studying political ads on Facebook in August of 2016—while Hillary Clinton was still leading the polls— few people had ever heard of the Russian propaganda group, Internet Research Agency. Not even Facebook itself understood how the group was manipulating the platform’s users to influence the election.

Russia World Cup TV blackout: Putin’s cyber war against U.K. will devastate ‘soft targets’ (Chloe Kerr, Daily Express)
PUTIN’S cyber warfare against the UK will hit the NHS, water supplies, banks and could even black out World Cup coverage on British TVs, experts said today.

Pentagon claims 2,000% increase in Russian trolls after Syria strikes. What does that mean? (Jessica Guynn, USA Today)
The Pentagon claimed a 2,000% increase in Russian troll activity on social media following the U.S.-led missile strikes against Syria Friday night. Spokeswoman Dana White said in Saturday’s Pentagon briefing that the activity escalated during the 24 hours following the strike. “The Russian disinformation campaign has already begun,” White said.

Russia reacts to U.S.-led strikes in Syria with a blizzard of fake news and troll attacks (Polygraph)
In a dramatic shift of message, the current Russian propaganda campaign targets U.S. President Donald Trump. The mediametrics.ru Website shows, in the past week, the RIA-Novosti, Russia’s main government-owned news agency ran 104 articles related to Syria with “Trump” in the headline, compared to 21 with “Vladimir Putin.”

Russian general’s claim of 71 missiles downed countered by experts, evidence (Polygraph)
Gen.Sergei Rudskoy’s full statement contains multiple claims aimed at minimizing the impact of air strikes on Syrian chemical weapon facilities. The fact check reveals they are either inaccurate of false.

Vladimir Putin’s hackers could target the NHS – and our homes (Mark Almond, Daily Mail)
Dire warnings of retaliation poured forth from Moscow should the West have the impudence to launch a missile attack on Syrian targets. There were dark threats to shoot down NATO missiles and planes, or to attack our RAF base on Cyprus. And despite no tangible response so far, it would be naive in the extreme for Britain, America and France to relax.

Russia nuclear-escalation strategy (Secretary of Defense James Mattis)
“The global situation is sobering. Russia is modernizing its full range of nuclear systems while espousing a theory of nuclear escalation in military conflict. … Globally, nuclear terrorism remains a tangible threat,” U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis told budget hearings at the House of Representatives’ Armed Services Committee.