Insyn

Jag har som sagt ingen aning om hur sånt här funkar, men hade nedanstående ingripande från FBI varit möjligt utan signalspaning i kabel? Den som begriper får gärna berätta. Newsweek:

The computer systems of both the Obama and McCain campaigns were victims of a sophisticated cyberattack by an unknown "foreign entity," prompting a federal investigation, NEWSWEEK reports today.

At the Obama headquarters in midsummer, technology experts detected what they initially thought was a computer virus—a case of "phishing," a form of hacking often employed to steal passwords or credit-card numbers. But by the next day, both the FBI and the Secret Service came to the campaign with an ominous warning: "You have a problem way bigger than what you understand," an agent told Obama's team. "You have been compromised, and a serious amount of files have been loaded off your system." The following day, Obama campaign chief David Plouffe heard from White House chief of staff Josh Bolten, to the same effect: "You have a real problem ... and you have to deal with it." The Feds told Obama's aides in late August that the McCain campaign's computer system had been similarly compromised. A top McCain official confirmed to NEWSWEEK that the campaign's computer system had been hacked and that the FBI had become involved.

Officials at the FBI and the White House told the Obama campaign that they believed a foreign entity or organization sought to gather information on the evolution of both camps' policy positions—information that might be useful in negotiations with a future administration. The Feds assured the Obama team that it had not been hacked by its political opponents. (Obama technical experts later speculated that the hackers were Russian or Chinese.) A security firm retained by the Obama campaign took steps to secure its computer system and end the intrusion. White House and FBI officials had no comment earlier this week.

Uppsnappat via Internet Haganah, som lakoniskt säger:

That the Feds knew about the attack before the sysadmins did would seem to demonstrate that Federal efforts to detect such activities are working.

Uppdatering:

Financial Times:

Earlier this summer, the Secret Service and Federal Bureau of Investigation warned Barack Obama's and John McCain's campaign teams that their computer networks had been compromised by foreign hackers.

The cyber attackers successfully downloaded large quantities of information from the campaign networks, which security agencies believed was an attempt to learn more about the contenders' policy positions.

The official said investigators had determined that the attacks originated from China, but cautioned that they had not ascertained whether they were government-sponsored, or just unaffiliated hackers.

Details of the incident were first revealed by a Newsweek, which reported that FBI and Secret Service agents informed the Obama team of the cyber attack this summer. The report said technical experts on the Obama team had speculated that the attacks came from China or Russia.

One person familiar with the incident said the Secret Service alerted the campaigns after the security breaches were detected by a government team tasked with detecting cyber attacks. The campaigns hired private cyber security companies to address the breaches.