[Peace-discuss] Russia Hysteria Infects WashPost Again: False Story About Hacking U.S. Electric Grid

Sun Jan 1 17:32:15 UTC 2017

<https://theintercept.com/2016/12/31/russia-hysteria-infects-washpost-again-
false-story-about-hacking-u-s-electric-grid/> Russia Hysteria Infects
WashPost Again: False Story About Hacking U.S. Electric Grid

 <https://theintercept.com/staff/glenn-greenwald/> Description:
https://prod01-cdn06.cdn.firstlook.org/wp-uploads/sites/1/2014/02/Glenn-Gree
nwald-Original_350.jpgGlenn Greenwald

December 31 2016, 7:44 a.m.

(updated below)

The Washington Post on Friday reported a
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/russian-hackers-pene
trated-us-electricity-grid-through-a-utility-in-vermont/2016/12/30/8fc90cc4-
ceec-11e6-b8a2-8c2a61b0436f_story.html?utm_term=.e26a251bd7b0> genuinely
alarming event: Russian hackers have penetrated the U.S. power system
through an electrical grid in Vermont. The Post headline conveyed the
seriousness of the threat: Whats the problem here? It did not happen.

Description:
https://prod01-cdn07.cdn.firstlook.org/wp-uploads/sites/1/2016/12/washposthe
ad-1000x95.png

The first sentence of the article directly linked this cyberattack to
alleged Russian hacking of the email accounts of the DNC and John Podesta 
what is now routinely referred to as Russian hacking of our election  by
referencing the code name revealed on Wednesday by the Obama administration
when it announced sanctions on Russian officials: A code associated with
the Russian hacking operation dubbed Grizzly Steppe by the Obama
administration has been detected within the system of a Vermont utility,
according to U.S. officials.

The Post article contained grave statements from Vermont officials of the
type politicians love to issue after a terrorist attack to show they are
tough and in control. The states Democratic governor, Peter Shumlin, said:

Vermonters and all Americans should be both alarmed and outraged that one of
the worlds leading thugs, Vladimir Putin, has been attempting to hack our
electric grid, which we rely upon to support our quality of life, economy,
health, and safety. This episode should highlight the urgent need for our
federal government to vigorously pursue and put an end to this sort of
Russian meddling.

Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy
<https://www.leahy.senate.gov/press/leahy-reaction-on-russian-hacking-of-a-v
ermont-electric-utility> issued a statement warning: This is beyond hackers
having electronic joy rides  this is now about trying to access utilities
to potentially manipulate the grid and shut it down in the middle of winter.
That is a direct threat to Vermont and we do not take it lightly.

The article went on and on in that vein, with all the standard tactics used
by the U.S. media for such stories: quoting anonymous national security
officials, reviewing past acts of Russian treachery, and drawing the
scariest possible conclusions (The question remains: Are they in other
systems and what was the intent? a U.S. official said). 

The media reactions, as
<http://dailycaller.com/2016/12/30/washington-post-publishes-false-news-stor
y-about-russians-hacking-electrical-grid/> Alex Pfeiffer documents, were
exactly what one would expect: hysterical, alarmist proclamations of Putins
menacing evil:

Our Russian "friend" Putin attacked the U.S. power grid.
<https://t.co/iAneRgbuhF> https://t.co/iAneRgbuhF

 Brent Staples (@BrentNYT)
<https://twitter.com/BrentNYT/status/815018020787646464> December 31, 2016

The Posts story also predictably and very rapidly infected other large
media outlets. Reuters
<https://amp.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/31/russian-malware-detected
-in-us-electricity-grid-report> thus told its readers around the world: A
malware code associated with Russian hackers has reportedly been detected
within the system of a Vermont electric utility.

Whats the problem here? It did not happen.

There was no penetration of the U.S. electricity grid. The truth was
undramatic and banal. Burlington Electric, after receiving a Homeland
Security notice sent to all U.S. utility companies about the malware code
found in the DNC system, searched all its computers and found the code in a
single laptop that was not connected to the electric grid. 

Apparently, the Post did not even bother to contact the company before
running its wildly sensationalistic claims, so Burlington Electric had to
<http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/news/local/vermont/2016/12/30/russ
ia-hacked-us-grid-through-burlington-electric/96024326/> issue its own
statement to the Burlington Free Press, which debunked the Posts central
claim (emphasis in original): We detected the malware in a single
Burlington Electric Department laptop not connected to our organizations
grid systems.

So the key scary claim of the Post story  that Russian hackers had
penetrated the U.S. electric grid  was false. All the alarmist tough-guy
statements issued by political officials who believed the Posts claim were
based on fiction.

Even worse, there is zero evidence that Russian hackers were even
responsible for the implanting of this malware on this single laptop. The
fact that malware is Russian-made does not mean that only Russians can use
it; indeed, like a lot of malware, it can be purchased (as Jeffrey Carr has
<https://medium.com/@jeffreycarr/the-dnc-breach-and-the-hijacking-of-common-
sense-20e89dacfc2b#.cudc64atc> pointed out in the DNC hacking context,
assuming that Russian-made malware must have been used by Russians is as
irrational as finding a Russian-made Kalishnikov AKM rifle at a crime scene
and assuming the killer must be Russian).

As the actual truth emerged once the utility company issued its statement,
the Post rushed to fix its embarrassment, beginning by dramatically changing
its headline:

<https://prod01-cdn07.cdn.firstlook.org/wp-uploads/sites/1/2016/12/posthead.
png> Description:
https://prod01-cdn07.cdn.firstlook.org/wp-uploads/sites/1/2016/12/posthead-5
40x137.png

The headline is still absurd: They have no idea that this malware was placed
by a Russian operation (though they would likely justify that by pointing
out that they are just stenographically passing along what officials say).
Moreover, nobody knows when this malware was put on this laptop, how, or by
whom. But whatever else is true, the key claim  Russian hackers penetrated
U.S. electricity grid  has now been replaced by the claim that this all
shows risk to U.S. electrical grid.

As journalists realized what did  and did not  actually happen here, the
reaction was swift:

This matters not only because one of the nations major newspapers
<https://www.washingtonian.com/2016/12/07/washington-post-appends-editors-no
te-russian-propaganda-story/> once again published a wildly misleading,
fearmongering story about Russia. It matters even more because it reflects
the deeply irrational and ever-spiraling fever that is being cultivated in
U.S. political discourse and culture about the threat posed by Moscow.

The Post has many excellent reporters and smart editors. They have produced
<https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/814965635868459008> many great
stories this year. But this kind of blatantly irresponsible and
sensationalist tabloid behavior  which tracks what they did when
<https://theintercept.com/2016/11/26/washington-post-disgracefully-promotes-
a-mccarthyite-blacklist-from-a-new-hidden-and-very-shady-group/> promoting
that grotesque PropOrNot blacklist of U.S. news outlets accused of being
Kremlin tools  is a byproduct of the Anything Goes mentality that now
shapes mainstream discussion of Russia, Putin, and the Grave Threat to All
Things Decent in America that they pose.

The level of groupthink, fearmongering, coercive peer pressure, and
über-nationalism has not been seen since the halcyon days of 2002 and 2003.
Indeed, the
<http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/12/glenn-greenwald-tucker-carlson
-unite-to-dismiss-russian-hacking-allegations.html> very same people who
back then smeared
<http://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/127792/jonathan-chait-on-the-iraq-war>
anyone questioning official claims as Saddam sympathizers or stooges and
left-wing un-American loons are
<https://twitter.com/davidfrum/status/814844504305975296> back for their
sequel, accusing anyone who expresses any skepticism toward claims about
Russia of being Putin sympathizers and Kremlin operatives and stooges.

But its all severely exacerbated by social media in ways that we dont yet
fully understand. A large percentage of journalists sit on Twitter all day.
Its their primary window into the world. Because of how intense and raw the
emotions still are from Trumps defeat of Clinton, the social media benefits
from tweeting and publishing unhinged claims about Trump and Putin are
immense and immediate: thousands upon thousands of re-tweets, a rapidly
building follower count, and huge amounts of traffic.

Indeed, the more unhinged it is, the greater the benefits are (see some of
the
<https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2016/12/the-russia-conundrum-how-can
-democrats-avoid-getti.html> most extreme examples here). Thats how
otherwise rational people
<https://theintercept.com/2016/12/29/the-guardians-summary-of-julian-assange
s-interview-went-viral-and-was-completely-false/> keep getting tricked into
posting and re-tweeting and sharing extremely dubious stories
<https://theintercept.com/2016/12/09/a-clinton-fan-manufactured-fake-news-th
at-msnbc-personalities-spread-to-discredit-wikileaks-docs/> that turn out to
be false.

And thats to say nothing of the non-utilitarian social pressures. Its not
news that coastal elites  particularly media and political figures  were
and are virtually unified in their unbridled contempt for Trump. And we have
seen over and over that any time there is a new Prime Foreign Villain
consecrated  now Putin  U.S. media figures lead the campaign. As a result,
any denunciation or accusation toward Trump or Russia, no matter how
divorced from reason or devoid of facts, generates instant praise, while any
questioning of it prompts instant peer-group denunciation, or worse.

Few things are more dangerous to the journalistic function than groupthink,
and few instruments have been invented that foster and reinforce groupthink
like social media, particularly Twitter, the platform most used by
journalists. Thats a phenomenon that merits far more study, but examples
like this one highlight the dynamic.

In this case, the effect is a constant ratcheting up of tensions
<http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/world-war-three-by-mistake> between
two nuclear-armed powers whose nuclear systems are still on hair-trigger
alert and capable of catastrophic responses based on misunderstanding and
misperception. Democrats and their media allies are rightly alarmed about
the potential dangers of Trumps bellicose posture toward China, but
remarkably and recklessly indifferent to the dangers of what they themselves
are doing here.

* * * * *

Those interested in a sober and rational discussion of the Russia hacking
issue should read the following:

(1) Three posts by cybersecurity expert Jeffrey Carr: first, on the
<https://medium.com/@jeffreycarr/faith-based-attribution-30f4a658eabc#.bqsg9
2u70> difficulty of proving attribution for any hacks; second,
<https://medium.com/@jeffreycarr/the-dnc-breach-and-the-hijacking-of-common-
sense-20e89dacfc2b#.cudc64atc> on the irrational claims on which the Russia
hacked the DNC case is predicated; and third, on the
<https://medium.com/@jeffreycarr/fbi-dhs-joint-analysis-report-a-fatally-fla
wed-effort-b6a98fafe2fa#.w0m80yhqo> woefully inadequate, evidence-free
report issued by the Department of Homeland Security and FBI this week to
justify sanctions against Russia.

(2) Yesterdays
<http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/something-about-this-russia-s
tory-stinks-w458439> Rolling Stone article by Matt Taibbi, who lived and
worked for more than a decade in Russia, titled: Something About This
Russia Story Stinks.

(3) An
<https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/12/the-disparate-reaction
s-to-obamas-sanctions/511910/> Atlantic article by David A. Graham on the
politics and strategies of the sanctions imposed this week on Russia by
Obama; I disagree with several of his claims, but the article is a rarity: a
calm, sober, rational assessment of this debate.

Since it is so often distorted, permit me once again to underscore my own
view on the broader Russia issue: Of course it is possible that Russia is
responsible for these hacks, as this is perfectly consistent with (and far
more mild than) what both Russia and the U.S. have done repeatedly for
decades.

But given the stakes involved, along with the incentives for error and/or
deceit, no rational person should be willing to embrace these accusations as
Truth unless and until convincing evidence has been publicly presented for
review, which most certainly
<https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/813069456255709188?lang=en> has not
yet
<https://theintercept.com/2016/12/14/heres-the-public-evidence-russia-hacked
-the-dnc-its-not-enough/> happened. As the above articles demonstrate, this
weeks proffered evidence  the U.S. governments evidence-free report 
should raise rather than dilute suspicions. Its hard to understand how this
desire for convincing evidence before acceptance of official claims could
even be controversial, particularly among journalists.

UPDATE: Just as
<https://theintercept.com/2016/12/29/the-guardians-summary-of-julian-assange
s-interview-went-viral-and-was-completely-false/> The Guardian had to do
just two days ago regarding its claim about WikiLeaks and Putin, the
Washington Post has now added an editors note to its story acknowledging
that its key claim was false:

<https://prod01-cdn07.cdn.firstlook.org/wp-uploads/sites/1/2016/12/editorsno
te.png> Description:
https://prod01-cdn07.cdn.firstlook.org/wp-uploads/sites/1/2016/12/editorsnot
e-540x81.png

Is it not very clear that journalistic standards are being casually
dispensed with when the subject is Russia?

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