The Russia watchRussians hack U.S. accounting firms; Russian spy hid in plain sight; cutting off Kaspersky, and more

Kremlin’s USA Really is “waking up America” with fake news (Polygraph.info)
The Kremlin’s new media project, USA Really, claimed the police in Washington, DC “banned” its rally scheduled to take place in front of the White House on June 14. The announcement for the rally, posted by USA Really in April, displayed a picture of the White House surrounded by American flags, along with an announcement that “America will wake up on June 14th!” It also said that the rally was planned to start at 2 p.m. The organizers, however, did not provide information about specifically where the rally was to take place or any other details.

Spotlight falls on Russian threat to undersea cables (Morgan Chalfant, The Hill)
The Trump administration’s new sanctions on Russia are casting light on the threat posed to the undersea cables that carry the world’s electronic communications between continents.

New federal contracting rule cuts off Kaspersky (Derek B. Johnson, FCW)
The government is seeking to eliminate all traces of cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Labs from federal systems, issuing a new interim rule in the June 15 Federal Register to extend the governmentwide ban to contractors.

Another undisclosed Russian contact (Committee to Investigate Russia)
Not until confronted by Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigators with text messages did longtime Trump political advisor Roger Stone and Trump campaign communications official Michael Caputo reveal a Russian national reached out to them in May 2016 offering dirt on Hillary Clinton. 

Russia used to see itself as part of Europe. Here’s why that changed. (Andrew Foxall, Washington Post)
over the past 18 years, the Kremlin has gradually turned its back on the West — and now sees the E.U. as an aggressor in a new Cold War. Russia has shifted from treating cooperation with the E.U. as desirable to seeing confrontation with the E.U. as unavoidable.

Russian hackers specifically targeting U.S. accounting firms (Daniel Hudson and Joseph Brunsman, CPA Practice Advisor)
Much to the ire of businesses worldwide, hackers have ceaselessly attempted to penetrate their computer systems and abscond with valuable information. While seemingly no business sector is beyond the reach of opportunistic hackers, the financial services industry has been particularly sensitive to these intrusions due to the vast quantities of personal information stored therein. Yet, like all systems found in the business world, specialization of skills is a natural outgrowth.

Russian spy hid in plain sight among Hollywood elite to steal secrets for nuclear arms race (Steve Myall, Mirror)
Stanislav Shumovsky was dispatched to New York by Stalin to steal aviation secrets to allow them to build a bomber capable of carrying nuclear weapons - and lay undetected for years

UK defense spend ‘far too low’ to counter Russia, MPs warn (Alice Tidey, Euronews)
The UK’s defense spending is “far too low” to combat threats facing the country, including Russian aggression, MPs warned on Monday. In its latest report, Britain’s Defense Committee urged the government to hike defence spending from its current level of 2% of GDP to 3%. “Defense spending is far too low,” MPs wrote in the report. “The Government now needs to apply the resources that are necessary to keep this country safe, and must begin moving the level of defense expenditure back towards 3% of GDP, as it was in the mid-1990s.”

Dissecting Roger Stone’s bizarre new statement on his meeting with a Russian national (Andrew Prokop, Vox)
He says it doesn’t matter why he didn’t disclose it for two years, and that he was set up.