Last I left you they were doing the Hokey-Pokey:
Ukraine says Russian tanks breach its territory" by Andrew E. Kramer and Andrew Roth | New York Times
Ukraine says peace plan has support of other nations" by NATALIYA VASILYEVA and PETER LEONARD | Associated Press
Russian troops launch stealth invasion, Ukraine says" by Andrew E. Kramer and Michael R. Gordon | New York Times
Hope you understand why I'm leaving those unread. Fell asleep.
"While Europe slept" August 29, 2014
The crisis in
Ukraine poses a big headache for European leaders who have agonized for
months over how forcefully to respond to the fighting. But the latest
actions by Russian President Vladimir Putin call for strong sanctions,
and European countries — not the United States — must take the lead
against the threat to stability on their continent.
Speaking of headaches....
On Thursday, Russia sent tanks and military vehicles
into southeastern Ukraine, opening a new front in the months-long
insurgency in the eastern part of the country, largely fueled by Russia.
In the past, European nations have protested Putin’s actions but been
skittish about alienating Russia, a major trading partner and energy
supplier. Although European officials increased sanctions this summer
after pro-Russia rebels shot down a civilian aircraft, they’ve stopped
short of some major steps like canceling a large French sale of
helicopter carriers to Moscow. It’s become increasingly clear that
European hesitancy and mixed messages gave Putin license to keep up his
interference in Ukraine.
Some voices in Ukraine have called for direct American help to Kiev,
but the US role in Ukraine is, and should remain, limited. The United
States can’t want stability in Europe more than the Europeans themselves
do. And any hint of American unilateralism would play directly into the
hands of the Russian government, which is already trying its hardest to
deflect blame for the crisis to the United States.
Of course, the United States should be ready to help. But Europe has
to take up the primary burden for addressing the escalating chaos on its
doorstep.
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Yeah, September is a wonderful time to start a war.
"Russia escalates incursion, Ukraine says" by Annie Gowen and Anne Gearan | Washington Post August 29, 2014
Ah, the CIA's newspaper!
KIEV — Russian soldiers, tanks, and heavy artillery began rolling into southeastern Ukraine in earnest Thursday, the Ukrainian government said, as well-armed detachments captured key towns, burned buildings, and sent the under-equipped Ukrainian forces into full retreat — a show of military force that the United States now considers an invasion in all but name.
Like the United States government has any standing to say anything about invasions, as if one has happened.
US officials began saying privately for the first time Thursday that they consider the escalation of recent days tantamount to a Russian invasion, but President Obama stopped short of using the term at a news conference late in the afternoon. He said the United States would continue to rely on sanctions in an effort to deter Russia.
‘‘Russia is responsible for the violence in eastern Ukraine,’’ he said. ‘‘Russia has deliberately and repeatedly violated the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.’’
In one ear,....
But he said the problem will not be solved with US or outside military action. ‘‘A military solution to this problem is not going to be forthcoming,’’ he said.
Translation: they are going to do it covertly until a triggering event they have staged.
Buttressing the Ukrainian accounts, NATO released satellite images Thursday of what it said were Russian artillery, vehicles, and troops in and around eastern Ukraine. One image showed what NATO officials said was a convoy with self-propelled artillery in the area of Krasnodon, inside territory controlled by Russian-backed separatists, on Aug. 21.
‘‘There is no doubt that this is not a homegrown, indigenous uprising in eastern Ukraine. The separatists are backed, trained, armed, financed by Russia,’’ Obama said.
You want to pass that salt shaker over her? Need a grain.
Russian actions will be a main topic for the summit of NATO leaders next week in Wales, Obama said.
The Russian defense ministry reiterated its position again Thursday, saying no Russian military units had taken part in action in Ukraine, according to the Russian news agency Interfax.
They must get sick of having to say that in the face of reality. I know I'm sick of reading it.
Major General Igor Konashenkov said that lists of Russian military units circulating on the Internet are fake. Russia has previously admitted that 10 of its paratroopers were captured in Ukraine but said they wandered into the country by mistake.
Russian and American diplomats clashed during an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council Thursday, with Samantha Power, the US ambassador to the United Nations, saying that Russia has ‘‘outright lied’’ about its involvement in the conflict.
What an embarrassing and disgusting hypocrite.
She said that President Vladimir Putin of Russia had spoken of the need to ‘‘end the bloodshed as soon as possible’’ in a meeting with President Petro Poroshenko of Ukraine just Tuesday. At the same time, she noted — citing the NATO satellite imagery — Russian combat units were rolling into the Ukrainian city of Donetsk.
She is AS BAD AS POWELL!!!!
Ambassador Vitaly Churkin of Russia countered that Washington should stop interfering and called the Russian soldiers in Ukraine ‘‘volunteers.’’
Huh?
‘‘There are Russian volunteers in eastern parts of Ukraine. No one is hiding that,’’ he said. He suggested Ukraine was supported by Western advisers and funding.
WHAT? I mean, THEY ARE, but that is USUALLY OBFUSCATED and OMITTED -- and the topic will soon change.
In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki would not publicly brand Russian actions as an invasion, although other US officials said privately that is the conclusion the United States has made.
‘‘Our focus is more on what Russia is doing, what we’re going to do about it, than what we’re calling it,’’ Psaki said. ‘‘What they’re doing is an incursion. It’s a violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty.’’
There was no incursion, and Israel gets a green light for theirs!
Russia, she said, has ‘‘stepped up its presence in eastern Ukraine,’’ intervened ‘‘directly with combat forces, armored vehicles, artillery, and surface-to-air systems,’’ and is ‘‘actively fighting Ukrainian forces as well as playing a direct supporting role to the separatists proxies and mercenaries.’’
Like the U.S. in Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Somalia, and wherever else there is trouble and war.
Another US official, speaking on condition of anonymity to describe the behind-the-scenes diplomacy, said the purpose of Russia’s ‘‘armed intervention’’ may be to try to open a land route to Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine earlier this year.
Except they didn't annex it, and the constant repetition and distortion disqualifies everything they say.
It may also be to test Ukrainian and western responses in preparation for such a land grab later, that official and Western diplomats said.
Actually, that won't be needed because Ukraine forces have been routed (after I was told they were winning for months).
In a statement posted on the Kremlin’s website early Friday, Putin urged the separatists in the east ‘‘to open a humanitarian corridor to Ukrainian soldiers that are surrounded, in order to avoid pointless victims and provide them the an opportunity to freely withdraw from the area of operations.’’
This guy is the one who should have gotten a Peace Prize. That is why he is demonized in my jew$media.
In Kiev, a grim-faced Poroshenko stood in the rain at the airport and addressed the nation Thursday, saying he had canceled his working visit to Turkey after ‘‘sharp aggravation’’ of the situation in the east, ‘‘as Russian troops were brought into Ukraine.’’ He remained closeted with his national security council for much of the day.
Around Ukraine, locals reacted in varying degrees of disbelief and shock.
Why?
In the capital, Kiev, where pro-European protesters unseated the former president in February, which led to the separatist uprising, residents grouped around television sets in cafes to see the latest news from the front. News filtered out that the country would be stepping up its military draft.
On top of the war tax! That is a beautiful paragraph, too. Finally tells you who started it in a roundabout way.
In Mariupol, a southern port city not far from the new fighting, a sense of normal life prevailed, to a degree, one businessman said. But hundreds of protesters gathered to call for peace.
What protesters?
And this whole "life is normal" narrative that is constantly tossed at us when the war media needs too minimize something is getting sooooooo played.
The situation continued to be grim in the rebel-controlled strongholds of Luhansk and Donetsk, where 11 civilians were killed within the last day. More than 2,200 people have died in the last five months in a conflict that has left more than 35,000 in temporary camps, with other residents doing without food and sufficient water. Ukrainians are worried that Russia could cut off gas supplies to the country as the winter months approach.
First of all, we got global warming so you won't need that gas and Europe slapped on sanctions so no more gas for you.
Oh, yeah, Russians not cutting it off, either.
The Ukrainian military said that around 12:30 p.m. Thursday, two Russian columns of tanks and armored fighting vehicles entered the town of Novoazovsk on the Sea of Azov after firing on Ukrainian army positions with rockets launched from Russian territory, according to a Ukrainian military spokesman. The spokesman, Colonel Andriy Lysenko, said that after a pitched battle the Ukrainian military forces retreated about 20 miles away to a position near Mariupol.
What?
We don't retreat!
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Related: Putin toughens stance as rebels seize key port city" by Neil MacFarquhar and Andrew E. Kramer | New York Times
You can read it if you want to.
"Putin urges talks on statehood for eastern Ukraine; Calls on Kiev to negotiate" by Andrew Roth | New York Times September 01, 2014
MOSCOW — President Vladimir Putin called on Ukraine on Sunday to begin talks on “the statehood” of that country’s rebellious southeast, a vague and provocative turn of phrase used by Putin as he demanded that the Ukrainian government negotiate directly with pro-Russian separatists.
PFFFFFFFFT!
Talk about provocative turns in phrases.
Western governments have accused Russia of backing the separatists with arms and fighters and of sending Russian troops to lead a counteroffensive in Ukraine during the past week that threatened Mariupol, an important port city, and left thousands of government troops encircled.
“We must immediately begin substantive, meaningful negotiations, not on technical questions, but about the political organization of society and the statehood of Ukraine’s southeast for the unconditional securing of the legal interests of the people who live there,” Putin said.
Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesman, said Putin was not calling for independence for eastern Ukraine. Rather, he said, the Russian leader was seeking inclusive negotiations that would provide greater autonomy for the country’s southeast as it remained a part of the country.
How unreasonable!
Hours after Putin spoke, Ukraine said a border guard vessel operating in the Azov Sea was attacked by land-based forces, the Associated Press reported. Pro-Russian rebels have recently opened a new offensive along the seacoast, but this attack was apparently the first incident at sea in the fighting.
Oleksiy Dmitrashkovsky, a Ukrainian military spokesman, announced the attack but had no further information, including how many people were aboard the boat.
There has been heightened concern in Ukraine that the rebels are trying to seize a land bridge between Russia and the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed in March.
What about what Israel is annexing?
That's a one-day wonder and not much made of it in my paper.
The self-proclaimed independent republics in Luhansk and Donetsk, which held haphazard, self-organized referendums on independence in May, have repeatedly requested Russian recognition, protection, and annexation. Although the Kremlin annexed Crimea, it has for months avoided formally recognizing the separatist states.
IT DID NOT!!!!!
Putin spoke Sunday on a televised news program in Moscow as European leaders vowed at a summit meeting in Brussels to toughen economic sanctions against Russia by the end of the week if the conflict in Ukraine continued to escalate.
In the interview, Putin veered between veiled threats and demands for negotiations to resolve the conflict in Ukraine.
F*** this.
He said that country should cease hostilities immediately and renew its supplies of natural gas, which are piped in from Russia, to survive the coming winter.
What winter?
“I think that nobody thinks of that anymore, except Russia,” Putin said of the winter. “There are ways of helping resolve the issue. First, to immediately stop hostilities and start restoring the necessary infrastructure. To start replenishing reserves, conducting the necessary repair operations and preparing for the cold season.”
Putin, however, gave rare praise to President Petro Poroshenko of Ukraine after a meeting with him in Minsk, Belarus, calling Poroshenko “a partner with whom dialogue can be conducted.”
Wow, he REACHED a HAND OUT to that jerk!
Earlier, Putin toughened his rhetoric on Ukraine, making a direct address on the Kremlin’s website to “the militias of Novorossiya,” or New Russia, a controversial phrase for the region, including the rebel strongholds of Donetsk and Luhansk, once controlled by the Russian empire.
He did an Obummer!?
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"Ukrainian troops routed as Russia talks tough" by Peter Leonard | Associated Press September 03, 2014
Whatever.
NOVOKATERYNIVKA, Ukraine — The ferocity of the attack on the fleeing Ukrainian troops was clear, days after the ambush by Russian-backed separatist forces.
More than 30 military vehicles lay in charred piles Tuesday. Villagers said dozens were killed, and some remained unburied. One soldier was blown out of his armored vehicle — apparently by a shell — his body left dangling from power lines high above.
The rout early Sunday near the village of Novokaterynivka marked a major intensification in the rebel offensive, one that the Ukrainian government, NATO, and the United States say has been sustained by Russia’s direct military support.
?????????
Moscow has stepped up its harsh rhetoric as well. A leaked report said European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said President Vladimir Putin told him that Russia could take over Kiev ‘‘in two weeks’’ if it wished.
I'm sure they could, and that is the point. THEY ARE NOT!
Following a month of setbacks in which government troops regained territory, the separatists have been successful in the last 10 days just as columns of Russian tanks and armored vehicles have been seen crossing the border.
Meaning I've been lied to -- AGAIN!
President Obama and other NATO leaders will be attending a summit Thursday in Wales to create a rapid-response military team to counter the Russian threat.
Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s foreign policy adviser, said the Russian leader’s statement on Kiev was ‘‘taken out of context and carried a completely different meaning.’’
Yet the results of much deadlier weapons of war could not be denied.
The smashed tanks, APCs, and trucks were part of a massive column fleeing after being encircled in the town of Ilovaisk, which the Ukrainian government was compelled to concede after weeks of battles.
But, but, but.... I was told "we" were winning, waaaaaaaaaahhh!
****************
Villagers and the separatists say the number of Ukrainian military dead was huge, although the government has maintained a tight lid on the precise figure....
It’s uncertain about whether the Ukrainian troops had been offered a safe exit corridor by the rebels. The leader of the pro-government Donbas Battalion, Semyon Semenchenko, wrote on his Facebook page Saturday that there was an agreement. But rebel fighters said a day later that the government convoy included too many military vehicles and weapons to be allowed through.
This stinks of a false flag, complete fiction, or whatever.
A group of surviving Ukrainian soldiers outside the town of Starobesheve said that they were fired upon from all sides.
Rank-and-file troops increasingly have voiced exasperation at what they say is government mismanagement of the war. Anatoly Babchenko, a soldier captured Sunday by the rebels, was unsparing in his criticism.
Now THAT PISSES ME OFF because it is the FIRST I'VE SEEN OF IT after hearing about for weeks now!!!!!!!!!
‘‘First they drove people to hunger, and now they’ve driven them to war,’’ Babchenko said from a basement cell at the Starobesheve police station. ‘‘They call this an antiterrorist operation, but this is a civil war. Brother killing brother.’’
The separatists began fighting Ukrainian troops in April, a month after Russia annexed Crimea.
Except they didn't.
The war has left more than 2,500 people dead and forced at least 340,000 to flee.
It also has left Ukraine’s economy in tatters. Ukraine might need billions in additional support if the fighting persists through next year, the International Monetary Fund said Tuesday.
Hey, American taxpayers!!! More austerity needed!
Just covering the shortfall in the central bank’s reserves would require an additional $19 billion by the end of 2015, it said.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Valeriy Heletey said on his Facebook page that the military was now facing the Russian army in a war that could cost ‘‘tens of thousands’’ of lives.
(Blog editor shaking his head as propagandists furiously shovel)
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"Putin lays out proposal to end Ukraine conflict" by Neil MacFarquhar | New York Times September 04, 2014
KIEV — On the eve of a NATO summit meeting focused on Russian aggression, President Vladimir Putin of Russia unveiled Wednesday a seven-point peace plan for Ukraine while President Obama and other Western leaders tried to keep the spotlight on the Kremlin’s role in stoking the conflict there and the penalties it should suffer for doing so.
Who is FOR PEACE?
Never at a loss for theatrical flair, Putin announced the plan soon after arriving on a state visit to Mongolia, brandishing a notebook page on which the first point was that both sides “end active offensive operations.”
Too bad the propaganda traipsed out by the NYT no longer has its theatrical flare.
Putin’s peace plan, jotted out during a plane ride over Siberia, muddied the diplomatic waters, leaving the West an excuse for delaying punitive sanctions that would also hurt European economies on the verge of a new recession. And it was expected to have some appeal to war-weary Ukrainians.
Yeah, people are SICK of the EUSraeli Empire bring DEATH and DESTRUCTION to their lands!!!!!!!!!
The ultimate effect, coming after Russian troops intervened in Ukraine last week to beat back a successful government offensive, might be to leave the country as a loose coalition that Moscow could still dominate, which critics of the Russian president say is his real aim.
That's it. I'm done.
The timing of Putin’s announcement was lost on no one as he and Western leaders engaged in a global chess game over the fate of Ukraine.
In Tallinn, Estonia, Obama made some of his harshest comments to date about the Kremlin’s armed intervention in Ukraine and hinted that NATO might now be willing to provide military assistance to Kiev. France postponed delivery of one of two warships it is building for Russia.
Why are they building them warships, and they are going to give the money back, right?
Oh, yeah, and those laid-off French workers should probably be told.
NATO leaders, including Obama, are to meet in Newport, Wales, on Thursday to discuss bolstering the alliance, including creating a rapid deployment force intended to respond to future Russian military threats and reaffirming its commitment to its smaller members. In addition, European leaders are contemplating a fourth, harsher round of sanctions against Russia.
Remember that missile shield idea? Was for Russia, not Iran, after all.
Putin’s plan seemed to raise more questions than it answered.
With jwho?
First, there was no mechanism for implementation. Second, just hours earlier, his own spokesman had repeated the Russian position, widely criticized as implausible, that Moscow could not negotiate a cease-fire because it was not a direct party to the conflict.
Analysts suggested that Putin’s strategy is to convince Kiev that it has no choice but to negotiate, not fight, and to reinforce the idea that the overall outcome depended on Moscow.
“Russia wants to show that it is in command of what is happening,” said Fyodor Lukyanov, editor of a prominent Russian foreign policy journal. “For Russia, it is important first to prevent the Ukrainians from thinking that they could win militarily and to accept the separatist leaders as partners in negotiations.”
The details of the peace deal were sketchy at best, entangled in complicated diplomacy and domestic politics. But it was clear from various, somewhat confused, and contradictory statements that Putin and the Ukrainian president, Petro O. Poroshenko, held an extensive discussion on the issue by telephone early Wednesday.
That is the feeling i get ridding the pos paper known as the Bo$ton Globe.
At first, Poroshenko’s office issued a vague announcement that the two leaders had agreed to a “lasting cease-fire.” The statement was diluted later to say only that both leaders had endorsed the need for a cease-fire and that Poroshenko hoped negotiations would begin in earnest Friday. Putin said his notes emerged from the telephone conversation.
In announcing the plan, Putin said he expected Ukraine and the separatists to wrap up an agreement after a new round of negotiations in Minsk, Belarus, on Friday. Ukraine, Russia, and Europe are all party to the talks there, and they include representatives of the separatists. The two-day NATO summit meeting is also scheduled to end Friday.
Obama devoted his main speech in Estonia to a scathing attack on Russia’s actions against Ukraine.
Yeah, f*** him.
“It is a brazen assault on the territorial integrity of Ukraine, a sovereign and independent European nation,” he said in the speech to more than 1,800 students, young professionals, and civic and political leaders at a concert hall. “It challenges that most basic of principles of our international system: that borders cannot be redrawn at the barrel of a gun; that nations have the right to determine their own future.”
Have you said anything to Israel yet, nose-buried butt-boy hypocrite?
Rejecting Putin’s frequent denials of intervention in Ukraine and his assertion that the Russian presence there is part of a humanitarian or peacekeeping mission, Obama said it was clear that Moscow was responsible for escalating tensions. “It’s been the pro-Russian separatists who are encouraged by Russia, financed by Russia, trained by Russia, supplied by Russia, and armed by Russia,” he said.
Just SHUT UP, will ya? Just shut the f*** up, you embarrassment!!!!!!
In Kiev, the idea of a cease-fire was received with mixed emotions.
There is open hostility to the idea that Russia will be able to dictate terms to its weaker neighbor after already wrenching away the Crimean peninsula in March.
Oh, they "wrenched" it away now.
Any compromise after months of condemning the separatists as “terrorists” risks weakening Poroshenko in central and western Ukraine.
Prime Minister Arseniy P. Yatsenyuk called Putin’s proposal “an attempt to confuse the international community” before the NATO summit meeting and the expected announcement of new sanctions from the European Union.
“Putin’s real plan is the destruction of Ukraine and the resumption of the USSR,” Yatsenyuk said, according to a statement posted on a government website. Peace will come only once Russia withdraws its troops and proxy force, it said.
But many Ukrainians want an end to the violence, horrified by the mounting human toll of more than 2,600 dead and uneasy about the economic costs for a country teetering on the edge of bankruptcy.
Must have been those protesters who got a phrase up above.
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Any way you cut it WWIII against Russia is a gamble, but it won't be any secret:
"Hackers attack 5 US banks in cybertheft" by Nicole Perlroth | New York Times August 28, 2014
A number of US banks, including JPMorgan Chase and at least four others, were struck by hackers in a series of coordinated attacks this month, according to four people briefed on a continuing investigation into the crimes.
Probably came from Silicon Valley with the help of the FBI.
The hackers infiltrated the networks of the banks, siphoning off gigabytes of data, including checking and savings account information, in what security experts described as a sophisticated cyberattack.
The motivation and origin of the attacks are not yet clear, according to investigators. The FBI is involved in the investigation, and in the past few weeks a number of security firms have been brought in to conduct forensic studies of the penetrated computer networks.
Yeah, yeah, we know who it is.
According to two other people briefed on the matter, hackers infiltrated the computer networks of some banks and stole checking and savings account information from clients. It was not clear whether the attacks were financially motivated, or they were collecting intelligence as part of an espionage effort.
JPMorgan has not seen any increased fraud levels, one person familiar with the situation said.
Isn't that intere$ting?
That, and they are the only ones who get good software for their machines.
“Companies of our size unfortunately experience cyberattacks nearly every day,” said Patricia Wexler, a JPMorgan spokeswoman. “We have multiple layers of defense to counteract any threats and constantly monitor fraud levels.”
Really?
Joshua Campbell, an FBI spokesman, said the agency was working with the Secret Service to assess the full scope of the attacks.
“Combating cyberthreats and criminals remains a top priority for the United States government,” he said.
The intrusions were first reported by Bloomberg, which indicated that they were the work of Russian hackers. But security experts and government officials said they had not yet made that conclusion.
The target is Organized Crime then?
Earlier this year, iSight Partners, a security firm in Dallas that provides intelligence on online threats, warned companies that they should be prepared for cyberattacks from Russia in retaliation for Western economic sanctions.
Uh-huh. And who benefits?
But Adam Meyers, the head of threat intelligence at CrowdStrike, a security firm that works with banks, said it would be “premature” to suggest the attacks were motivated by sanctions.
Russian hackers began a monthlong online assault on Estonia in 2007 that nearly crippled the Baltic nation, after Estonian government workers moved a Soviet-era war memorial from the Estonian capital.
Still, security experts say that the stealthy nature of the recent attacks suggests that their motivation was not political.
The US banking sector has been a frequent target for hackers in recent years, with the vast majority of attacks motivated by financial theft.
But not all of them. Over the past two years, banks have been targeted in a series of politically motivated attacks from Iran, in which a group of Iranian hackers flooded US banking sites with so much online traffic — a method called a distributed denial of service, or DDoS, attack — that the websites slowed or intermittently collapsed.
Yeah, sure. This war media garbage is almost in pieces.
Hackers who took credit for those attacks said they went after the banks in retaliation for an anti-Islam video that mocked the Prophet Muhammad and pledged to continue the attacks until the video was removed from the Internet.
That is where the PRINT STOPPED!
US intelligence officials said the group was actually a cover for the Iranian government. Officials claimed Iran was waging the attacks in retaliation for Western economic sanctions and for attacks on its own systems.
Who wrote this.... oh, right.
Unlike the attacks traced to Iran, the recent hacks against the US banks were not intended to disrupt the bank’s services but appeared to be part of a financial or intelligence-gathering effort, three people briefed on the investigations said.
Then ISRAEL should be considered the PRIME SUSPECT!
Meyers, of CrowdStrike, said hackers could have been after account information or even intelligence about a potential merger or acquisition. Security experts said the hackers chose to pursue account information, not disruption, which is the earmark of state-sponsored attacks.
Because JPMorgan had not seen any unusual incidences of fraud, however, it was too early to conclude that the attacks were solely financially motivated.
So why were the banks targeted? Security experts said they could not yet determine whether the attacks over the past few weeks were the work of Russians or whether they were politically motivated. Indeed, Meyers, said any such conclusions at this point would be the result of what he said was an effort by security firms to be the first to present conclusive evidence.
Look at this GOBBLEDEGOOK!
Banks are also frequent targets for intelligence agencies looking to collect information about their targets.
SAY AGAIN?
In 2012, Russian security researchers uncovered a computer virus on 2,500 computers, many of them inside major Lebanese banks, including the Bank of Beirut and Blom Bank. The virus was specifically intended to steal customers’ login credentials to their bank accounts.
The researchers believed the computer virus was state-sponsored and said they had found evidence it had been created by the same programmers who created Flame and Stuxnet, two computer viruses that officials have said were unleashed by the United States and Israel to spy on computers inside Iran.
Just wanted to leave you with that thought.
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They have other neat names for other hacking programs but they escape me now. I think you need to ask Count Dooku about Gauss.
"Companies lag in revealing data breaches, consumer groups say" by Craig Timberg, Andrew Peterson and Ellen Nakashima | Washington Post August 29, 2014
WaPo, NYT, same difference.
Rumors of a data breach at a major New York bank started circulating more than a week ago in cybersecurity circles. So for insiders, news that JPMorgan Chase had been victimized was more confirmation than revelation, the latest headline from a digital crime wave that shows no sign of ebbing.
But for the millions of customers of JPMorgan Chase, the news reports that began appearing Wednesday were the first indication that their personal information might have been stolen by hackers. Like Target, Neiman Marcus, and countless other companies, the nation’s largest bank chose to keep evidence of a cybercrime private until journalists forced the issue.
This reticence is both deeply rooted within corporate America and, to some consumer advocates, deeply infuriating. Had a family’s precious jewelry been stolen from a safe deposit box, any bank would have quickly notified the affected customer. Yet loss of personal information, especially when it happens on a mass scale, is treated differently, both by the law and by industry custom.
This and a government that is collecting everything about us. What are they not telling us?
The result is that weeks, or longer, can pass between when a company learns of a cybercrime and when its customers do. That gap, say security experts, can amount to crucial lost time for people who might want to protect themselves by monitoring transactions, changing passwords or alerting other relevant parties — such as a credit card company — that the risk of fraud or identity theft is elevated.
Good for the FRAMING of PATSIES and the creation of COVER STORIES!
‘‘There have been so many breaches where companies have held information for so long that more disclosure would force companies to do a better job being accountable to consumers,’’ said Ed Mierzwinski, consumer program director at US Public Interest Research Group.
The seriousness of the JPMorgan Chase breach, which involves at least one other bank as well, remains uncertain, though some reports said account data may have been compromised for some customers.
Bloomberg News first reported the intrusion Wednesday, saying that the FBI was investigating the possibility that Russian hackers had launched an attack in retaliation for US sanctions. Other investigators have expressed skepticism about that possibility but have not ruled it out.
JPMorgan Chase posted a notice on its website saying, ‘‘The security of your Chase accounts is one of our highest priorities,’’ with general tips on how to protect personal banking security. But it didn’t directly address the numerous news reports of a data breach, nor did it offer details about what happened and who might be affected.
A spokesperson for JPMorgan Chase said it will notify consumers if it determines they have been impacted but declined to say when or how. JPMorgan Chase also declined to comment on when it first learned of the data breach.
The interests of consumers and authorities sometimes diverge, said Neil MacBride, former US attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia and now a partner at Davis, Polk & Wardwell. ‘‘Consumers want immediate notification from the breached company, while law enforcement may want several days or weeks to investigate a crime scene before hackers are tipped off that the cops are on their tail.’’
How come they can't find these guys with the NSA monitoring all the computers?
Notification is a notoriously cumbersome and costly process for companies that have data breaches.
Yeah, better you consumers get $crewed. The billing department isn't cumbersome or costly, though.
Forty-seven states and the District of Columbia have laws governing such disclosures, and a company with a nationwide customer base may have to comply with them all.
There also are notification requirements specific to banks under federal law. Publicly traded companies must report ‘‘material breaches’’ from cybercrime in disclosures to investors. And the Federal Trade Commission investigates some corporate data breaches, especially when there is evidence that security measures were not up to industry standards.
The result is a mish-mash of rules and regulations that, in practice, force companies to disclose data breaches but rarely require them to do so quickly.
The work involved in notification was a top goal of those who pushed for state notification laws. They wanted to raise the cost of data breaches in order to provide companies with incentive to implement better security practices.
‘‘It wasn’t about providing a lot of notice to consumers. It was about seeking some visibility about lax security procedures,’’ said Deirdre Mulligan, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Information who help craft California’s data breach law, which when it passed in 2002 was the nation’s first.
But 12 years later, as the incidents continue to pile up, some experts say the time has come to revisit the subject — with the goal of prioritizing the interests of the consumers who are affected.
‘‘We’ve got this kind of patchwork, but given the frequency and visibility of these breaches, we ought to have a much more rigorous conversation in this country about data security policy,’’ said Woodrow Hartzog, a Samford University law professor.
I sense more tyranny.
Until then, companies typically are free to take the initiative of notifying their customers quickly.
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