Russian Hackers Attack U.S. Banks

by JASmius

There are far more insidious means of retaliating for farcical economic sanctions than "Uncle Joe" Stalin ever dreamed of:

Russian hackers attacked JPMorgan Chase & Co. and at least four other banks this month in a coordinated assault that resulted in the loss of gigabytes of customer data, according to two people familiar with the investigation.

At least one of the banks has linked the breach to Russian state-sponsored hackers, said one of the people. The FBI is investigating whether the attack could have been in retaliation for U.S.-imposed sanctions on Russia, said the second person, who also asked not to be identified, citing the continuing investigation.

The attack led to the theft of account information that could be used to drain funds, according to a U.S. official and another person briefed by law enforcement who said the victims may have included European banks. Hackers also took sensitive information from employee computers.

It's kind of like "making the punishment fit the crime".  It's also a dynamic the Obama Regime should understand very, very well: "If you won't give us your money voluntarily, we'll just take it by force."  Best of all, it's a means of retaliation guaranteed to not provoke a "muscular" American response, even if Barack Obama were capable of such a thing, even though, unlike open, above-board, legal economic sanctions, this is effectively an act of war - cyber-war.

And, ho-boy, are we vulnerable and behind the curve on this front:

Attacks on the U.S. financial sector from Russia and Eastern Europe have jumped over the last several months, according to several cyber security experts. Companies and U.S. officials are examining the possibility that the uptick is related to the conflict over Russia’s behavior in Ukraine.

Ya think?

Authorities are looking for signs that the data stolen in the latest attack has been used to move money from accounts. No such activity had been spotted as of yesterday afternoon. The absence of fraud would lend support to the theory that the hack had a political motive, the government official said.

Picture for a moment that these Russian cyberattacks were not aimed at U.S. financial institutions but at U.S. infrastructure: dams, nuclear power plants, the electrical grid....the Pentagon.  Yes, there is a U.S. Cyber Command, but I frankly have little confidence in the capabilities of any aspect of the U.S. military after six years of Barack Obama's pacifist jihad against it, and the civilian sector is more or less wide open, as JPMorgan Chase illustrates.  And the Russians aren't even the best hackers out there, that title of which goes to the ChiComms.

Which harkens back to this scenario:

The rest of America was oblivious to the catastrophe in San Diego, and the similar disaster in Norfolk.

The TV stations next tried the Internet, but it was as if someone had just flicked it off. There was nothing but electronic silence. A coordinated cyber strike had hacked through America’s electronic defenses and shut down the web. Many of the hacks came not from Chinese and Russian teams across the world but from agents within America, infiltrated into key positions in American government and business, who introduced their malware directly into vital systems with thumb drives.

Simultaneously, outside major metropolises, groups of well-trained commandos, driving SUVs, followed the routes between power transmission stations that they had rehearsed using paper street maps (America’s GPS satellites having been eliminated in the opening minutes). With rifles, they opened fire on the critical transformer equipment, which was guarded only by chain link fences and cameras that no one monitored. When the irreplaceable equipment was shorted out and burning, they drove on to the next site and destroyed it. Between the cyber chaos and physical attacks, cities began to black out.

America ground to a halt, blind and paralyzed.

Cyber attacks, enemy infiltration, open borders.  And what is the threshold for what the U.S. government defines as an act of cyberwar?:

Even if the U.S. government makes a direct link from the attacks to Russia, any U.S. reaction may be muted, said Lewis of CSIS. The threshold for a military response is either massive economic harm or potential loss of life, he said.

In other words, after it's too late.

Sounds like a little cyber pre-emption is in order, doesn't it?

Think we're going to get any?  Or are we more likely, in the end, to get this scenario?:

“I have a video transmission off a Chinese satellite coming … to us. How did they get our communications data?” It was yet another security breach.

“Just put it onscreen,” ordered the President.

The transmission was a split screen, the Chinese Premier on the left, the Russian President on the right. They were smiling.

“What do you want?” the President asked.

The Russian President spoke. “We want peace. We want justice. And that is why we are here to provide you the terms of your surrender.”

"....after which the President turned to his inner circle, grinned hugely, and exclaimed, 'Mission accomplished.'"

I report, you decide.  But as our old friend Murphy liked to say, "The race is not always to the swift nor the battle to the strong....but that's the way to bet."