Russia is targeting the US Army

The Kremlin, with its hacker attacks, Putin's trolls and fake news, is stepping up efforts to turn the American military and veterans into a fifth column.

In the fall of 2013, a little-known US website Veterans Todaywho helps former military personnel in finding a job and paying medical bills, signed a new partnership agreement, writes Politico.

He began to host materials from the journal on geopolitics "New Eastern Outlook", which the Russian Academy of Sciences publishes for the government, and where you can find headlines such as "The Ukrainian Ku Klux Klan is a new ally of NATO." When the United States accused a Russian ally of Bashar Assad this spring of using chemical weapons against Syrian children, this site was trumpeted: "Proof: Turkey launched an attack using sarin in 2013, and this is also her work." And there was another material: “Exclusive: Trump apologized to Russia for the attack in Syria.”

As intelligence experts say, in recent years Russia has been holding “active measures” against the United States of America on a larger scale. This is a form of political warfare that includes misinformation, propaganda, and the discrediting of leaders through bribes and blackmail.

Currently, congressional committees, law enforcement agencies and the press have focused all their attention on the successful actions of Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin to discredit the political process in America.

But an analysis of the available evidence and the stories of specialists watching the Kremlin clearly indicate that the Russian state is using the same scenario against other foundations of American society, primarily against the army. Experts warn that actions in this direction, which receive much less attention, can prevent the armed forces from properly assessing Putin’s intentions and effectively counteract future aggression from Russia.

In addition to propaganda designed to influence people in uniform and former military personnel, the mercenaries of the Russian state, posing as Facebook attractive girls, trying to make friends with the military in order to gather intelligence information, and also aim at the Twitter accounts of employees of the Ministry of Defense, conducting targeted phishing attacks against them.

Hacker group of the Russian army Fancy Bear, hacked into the computers of the National Committee of the Democratic Party, is also responsible for publishing stolen military information online in 2015. Hackers have organized this leak, posing as supporters of the "Islamic state" (banned in Russia organization - approx. Lane.) Such conclusions were made in the report of one of the firms on cybersecurity. Most often, this hacker group conducts its phishing attacks in the West against military personnel and their family members, as reported by another cybersecurity company.

Photo: fancybear.net

Military personnel and their contractors have long been targets for cyber attacks by hostile foreign powers; However, Russian actions are characterized by a high degree of intensity, especially after the introduction of Western sanctions in response to the annexation of Crimea in the 2014 year.

And Russians differ in innovative methods of work on the Internet. All this can be called a hybrid war of low intensity, which Western countries are not yet able to resist effectively.

“We focused on uprooting the undergrowth on the edge of a huge oak forest,” said retired general Philip Breedlove (Philip breedlove), he commanded NATO troops for three years and personally oversaw the intensification of Russian active measures against the Baltic countries and actions to spread negative disinformation about NATO troops stationed in Europe.

Because of such a campaign of active events, Bridlava was sent home and then retired. In July, the Russian fake website DC Leaks posted a correspondence from the general's mailbox gmail. According to Breedlove, he recently received over a dozen phishing messages, allegedly from his bank. Bridlav refused to call this bank, however, he noted that most army officers use his services. On this basis, the general concluded that the motives for conducting a phishing attack were political, not financial. “What Russia is doing against all of our internal audiences, including the military, is carried out on an astronomical scale,” said Breedlove.

***

In the 20 century, intelligence from other states sent its agents to establishments near military bases to establish contacts with foreign military personnel. The agents waited for the appearance of servicemen, and then gradually rubbed themselves into their confidence, using alcohol and their professional skills.

Now there are social networks with which you can easily, simply and economically make acquaintances with former and current military personnel in the virtual space in order to fish out intelligence information from them and influence them.

Analyst John Bambenek (John bambenek), working in the company Fidelis cybersecurity and investigating the hacker hacking of computers of the National Committee of the Democratic Party, said that Russia is one of several foreign powers who, using various lures in social networks, gather intelligence information of a military nature. “Some methods are rather primitive (attractive women asking to subscribe to their accounts), and some are very sophisticated,” Bambenek wrote in an email. “Spies understand that by monitoring the behavior and actions of military personnel, you can learn a lot about the activities and plans of the armed forces.”

Establishing contacts through social networks helps foreign countries communicate directly with groups of US military personnel. Such tactics in recent conflicts are used by both Russians and Americans.

In the first days of the annexation of the Crimea, Ukrainian soldiers in large quantities received demoralizing text messages like “Soldier, you are just cannon fodder for their commanders.” Before the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the US military also bombarded Iraqi soldiers with postal messages, urging them to surrender, as in their book “Cyberwar” published in 2010 (Cyber ​​war) writes Richard Clark (Richard Clarke).

The Pentagon is quite naturally alarmed. Press Secretary of the Ministry of Defense Linda Rojas (Linda rojas) declined to comment on specific actions, but stated that due to new technologies, military personnel in cyberspace became more vulnerable. “The proliferation of Internet-based communications and social networking applications allows us to more actively conduct a dishonest game that influences our servicemen,” she wrote in an e-mail message. Roxas also noted that the military is trying to counter the growing threats from hackers and online influence operations. “We are making every effort to inform and notify personnel of such threats, and at the same time increase our network defense capabilities in order to protect the IT infrastructure from external invasion,” she wrote.

Friendship in Facebook with the US military gives foreign agents the opportunity to conduct propaganda, for which they place propaganda materials on their news feeds.

Former military contractor and member of the military’s family member, Serena Moring (Serena moring) said that last spring she was first disturbed by pro-Russian sentiments in the soldier’s environment on social networks. Then there was an unverified message about the heroic death of a Russian soldier who died in Syria in a battle with LIH, and it quickly spread on social networks among American servicemen.

“All these military guys reacted equally. It is awe-inspiring. What a heroic death, ”recalls 39-year-old Moring. “These are the soldiers' brotherhood bonds that were formed through social networks.”

According to Moring, she was even more alarmed by the fact that many of her army friends, including from intelligence, had become open-minded fans of Putin. Now she has to make considerable efforts, telling the military audience about Russia in Instagram и Facebook.

In the Wild West, such as social networks, it’s hard to figure out which pro-Russian sentiments are genuine (after 2015, Putin’s popularity ratings among Republicans went up sharply, and in right-wing media like Fox News speak very positively of him), and which are created artificially. However, Breedlove says that in many respects such sentiments were the result of a purposeful Kremlin campaign to strengthen its influence. “On veteran websites, people constantly sing and praise Putin, and it's safe to say that these are trolls and part of our army who sit there and attack us every day,” he said.

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Putin created such a pro-Russian "alternative media ecosystem" in order, in his own words, "to destroy the Anglo-Saxon monopoly on information flows." This has become a priority in its foreign policy. To a large extent, these operations are directed against the US military. Russian activity in this direction has increased significantly in recent years, when tensions over sanctions, the annexation of the Crimea and the expansion of NATO have increased.

Veterans Today - This is a home-grown American website created in 2003, in disagreement with the invasion of Iraq. Already very soon he began to publish the wildest conspiracy theories. Before entering into a partnership with the New Eastern Review, this site collaborated with the Iranian state television channel PressTV.

The directors of its editorial board included the former head of the Pakistani special services, and this site published articles under headlines such as “Israeli death squads” and “Water terrorism of India in rivalry with Pakistan” were involved in the bloodshed in Sandy Hook.

“New Eastern Outlook decided to cooperate with Veterans Today after watching his materials for some time and saw in him a unique platform, ”Jim Dean, the editor-in-chief of the site, explained in his article on cooperation.Jim dean). He called this deal "a marriage made in heaven."

In the biography of Dina on the site Veterans Today his relatives and ancestors who served in the armed forces are listed, and the journalist’s participation in certain groups on military topics is mentioned. But there is not a single mention of the fact that he himself served in the army. Site Chairman Gordon Duff (Gordon duff) served in the Marine Corps in Vietnam, and began writing for the site in 2008 year. In an interview from 2012, he stated: “About 30% of what is written on the website Veterans TodayThis is a blatant lie. About 40% of what I write, this is partially fake information. The fact is that if I had not written false information, I would no longer be alive. ”

Veterans Today Is the main property of the association Veterans Today Networkwhich includes an employment agency, a cancer control foundation and a sister site Veterans News Nowwho calls himself "an independent online magazine presenting the positions of military personnel and veterans of the armed forces, as well as telling them the news." This association is also associated with the foundation. Veterans Housing & Education, which, as its goal, announced the collection of money for housing and education for military personnel in the amount of 500 million dollars for 5 years.

Site VeteransTodayCancerFoundation.orgwho was in the service at the time of writing this article invites veterans in need to fill out applications for assistance and enter their personal data there, including account data in social networks.

Union Administrator Veterans Today Networkwho asked not to be named, said that in the database of the job site HireVeterans.com There are currently 35 thousands of resumes, and that the site collaborates with large US companies, helping veterans find work. The site lists dozens of employers, including Bank of America, Merck, Geico and Westinghouse. According to the administrator, they pay an annual fee for their membership. Fox Business The article from 2011 recommends this job site to employers.

Photo: hireveterans.com

Administrator Veterans Today Network said that both the association and the employment office belong to the company Success spearand foreign countries cannot access the personal data of veterans, despite their partnership with Veterans Today. According to the administrator, the fund to fight cancer has not yet earned full strength.

In October 2013, when the site Veterans Today began publishing materials from the New Eastern Observation, his sister site Veterans News Now started publishing content from the Moscow Analytical Center “Foundation for Strategic Culture”, which is headed by the former head of the Moscow organization of the Communist Party and a member of the Soviet Politburo Yuri Prokofiev.

In October 2015, the site Veterans Today entered into a partnership with a well-designed military website with anonymous authors called the Southern Front. This site was registered in April of the same year in Moscow, when Russia increased its influence operations in response to Western sanctions.

With a poet Veterans Today constantly publishes articles in support of the Kremlin party line, which are written both by its Russian partner and its own authors.

Now readers of the site, including 45 thousands of Facebook subscribers, and the number of unique visitors to 900 thousands per month, learn about the “upcoming shift towards cosmic fascism,” read the news and get acquainted with the free services offered to veterans.

And there are lots of headlines like “Ukrainians are indignant because the Jews took 80% of the seats in power”, “Trump's humiliation: Syria shot down 34 from 59 cruise missiles” or “Russia will upgrade its anti-aircraft missile systems”. Here is the latest journalistic contribution of the Southern Front on the website. Veterans Today: “The US is changing course, since Russia understood Trump’s plan to help terrorists,” “The political benefits of Russophobia,” and so on. A New Eastern Review provided the site with its material under the headings "If NATO wants peace and stability, let it stay at home" and "Brussels, NATO and globalists in complete confusion."

At the end of 2014, Duff and Dean visited a conference on counter-terrorism in Damascus. There, Duff introduced participants from Russia, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon to his theory that "the US government is subordinate to the world criminal organization." In March of this year, the chairman Veterans Today visited the reception in Damascus, where participants made speeches against the backdrop of huge portraits of Assad and Putin, as evidenced by a video published by him on YouTube.

Duff did not answer the question of whether any foreign organizations financed his trip to Syria.

An expert on Russian influence operations from the State Department, not authorized to make official statements, said he noticed cooperation Veterans Today with the "New Eastern Survey" and with the "Southern Front", and that it seems that the "Southern Front" is a Russian organization that deliberately hides its origin. This expert also stated that the Strategic Culture Foundation is part of the Kremlin's system of influence, and that Russia has long been seeking to raise the voices of Western conspiracy theorists.

Professor at the University of Washington Kate Starberd (Kate starbird), which studies the activities of Veterans Today in an “alternative media ecosystem,” called this website an active partner in spreading Russian propaganda.

***

Military personnel and veterans were not only affected by operations of influence. In the framework of Russian active measures against the United States, they are much more likely than others to undergo hacker attacks.

Those military hackers from Russia who broke into the mail of the National Committee of the Democratic Party, apparently make no less effort to exert political influence on the current and former military personnel. Analysis of the activities of the hacker group, which is often called Fancy Bear, gave researchers the opportunity to look at the thousands of victims of phishing attacks carried out from March to September 2015. From among those whom efforts were directed Fancy Bear outside the former Soviet Union, 41% - current and former military personnel, cybersecurity firm made its conclusion Secureworks. 22% of attack victims Fancy Bear these are writers and journalists, 10% are non-governmental organizations, 4% are political activists, and 8% are government employees. Of the authors and journalists who have been attacked, more than 20% are members of military families, leading blogs about military life.

The publication of stolen information is a novelty in the Russian attack on the American political system, which has become an integral part of active measures against the US military. Last summer, Russian hackers organized a leak of e-mails stolen from Breedlove to put NATO in an awkward position.

And in 2015, a group called Cyber ​​Caliphate stole the US Central Command Twitter account by sending its subscribers to another site where hackers posted data stolen from the military.

Cyber ​​Caliphate asserts that he supports ISIL, although in reality, it was an operation under a foreign flag, designed to conceal the identity of the kidnappers themselves. And the kidnappers were people from Fancy Bearas reported in the cybersecurity firm report Trend Micro, which stated that the French authorities have confirmed its analytical calculations about the involvement of the Russian hacker group.

Washington is beginning to realize the scale of Russian active events, but the hacker campaign against the military continues. Last month Time reported on the findings of American counterintelligence, which in March concluded that Russian hackers had attacked thousands of Defense Department employees against 10, sending fraudulent messages via Twitter, which forced them to download malicious programs that could infect Twitter accounts, computers and telephones.

***

So far, there is no reason to talk about the Russian invasion of the United States in the image and likeness of the “Red Dawn”, however, the Kremlin’s active measures may reduce the combat capability of the army and weaken the resolve of servicemen to resist Russian military aggression in other countries.

Active measures are held not only against the military and political system. It is an integral part of large-scale efforts aimed at weakening Western institutions, including the news media, financial markets and intelligence services. Due to the multidimensional nature and non-traditional tactics of such events, it is very difficult for the American state to resist this activity. “Obviously, this is a very serious challenge, and many are concerned that our response to today is ineffective,” said one active event expert who recently testified to Congress on this topic.

This campaign has not subsided after the presidential election, but has become even more arrogant and bold, says the head of the company Strategic Cyber ​​Ventures Tom Kellerman (Tom Kellermann), closely following Russian active events.

In May and June 2015, Kellerman, who was at the time leading the work on cybersecurity in Trend Micro, told how his company warned the FBI and the National Intelligence director that Kremlin hackers made a list of 2 300 people who are the most influential leaders in Washington and New York, as well as their spouses and mistresses.

The list was compiled for a targeted hacker campaign. According to Kellerman, he doesn’t know whether the government took any action on their recommendation, although they warned that hackers were able to turn on microphones and cameras on people’s personal devices from the list in order to receive sensitive information about their private life. However, he believes that in the course of this campaign the Russians managed to compromise the American leaders, and this gave courage to the Kremlin. “When you ask a question about why certain people act in one way or another,” Kellerman said, “we must remember how these people were warned that their dirty laundry could be put on public display.” (A spokesman for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the FBI declined comment.)

Kellerman cited as an example the activities of the hacker group Shadow Brokerswhich is considered an instrument of the Kremlin. This group began publishing data stolen last summer from the NSA. The last piece of information was made public in April. Strengthening online attacks is a precursor of armed aggression, Kellerman said, predicting that the conflict between the US and Russia is likely to break out in the Baltic States.

“I’m very worried,” he said. “Actions in cyberspace always precede actions in reality.”

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