Reprinted from Antiwar
When the hacking of Sony's computer system produced a brouhaha of ridiculous proportions, the government's pet "experts" were quick to blame North Korea. The rationale: Since Sony was releasing a pretty awful anti-North Korean propaganda film, it was only obvious that King Jong-un was personally responsible. Besides that, the attack supposedly originated in a region of cyberspace inhabited by North Korea's pathetic Internet superstructure.
There was just one problem with that oh-so-convenient scenario: it wasn't based on anything but suppositions. Indeed, several computer experts -- not connected to the government -- hotly disputed this explanation, and instead pointed to the ease with which the hackers penetrated the system to show that it was most likely an inside job, the work of an employee with intimate knowledge of the system and a grudge against Sony. Indeed, such a person was quickly identified: a former employee who had been fired and had vowed to get even. Yet Washington, for its own reasons, ignored this rather compelling evidence and stuck to its story: so did their pet "experts," who have a vested economic interest in hyping the alleged "threat" posed by hackers in the service of foreign enemies -- all the better to ensure that plenty of taxpayer dollars will continue to fill their coffers.
Now we have another hack attack, supposedly coming from the Russians. The New York Times reports:
"Some of President Obama's email correspondence was swept up by Russian hackers last year in a breach of the White House's unclassified computer system that was far more intrusive and worrisome than has been publicly acknowledged, according to senior American officials briefed on the investigation."
Not a shred of evidence is given as to the identity or nationality of the hackers except the assertions of anonymous government officials. We have to wait until the seventh paragraph to read that they "are presumed to be linked to the Russian government, if not working for it."