Hacking of sensitive information and data is nothing new. Individual hackers and groups have been carrying out cyber crimes for quite some time by breaking into computer networks to obtain sensitive information to be misused for ulterior motives.
Recently, over 270 millions of email accounts belonging to major service providers like Yahoo and Google were hacked and compromised. It is believed that the stolen passwords and other sensitive information of prominent individuals were sold to unscrupulous and criminal groups.
One of the biggest hacking that took place was when hackers succeeded in hacking the computer networks of US Intelligence computers to obtain sensitive information. WikiLeaks managed to obtain the information, which it placed in the public domain about the US involvement in war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan. Early this year, the hackers made millions of dollars by hacking into financial institutions in Bangladesh and Vietnam. The attack underscores the vulnerability of small banks and businesses, who cannot afford to invest heavily in securing their servers. Even companies and banks in the US were not spared when the hackers, allegedly from Iran, broke into the computer networks of American express, JP Morgan Chase and others, which led to the loss of business amounting to millions of dollars. North Korea had also hacked the computer network of Sony pictures to blackmail it from releasing the film, “The Interview,” a comedy about a plot to assassinate the leader of North Korea Kim Jong-un.
At a time when India is planning to move from cash to a digital payment system, a hacker group called “Legion” has claimed to having hacked the digital accounts of over 7000 Chartered accountants and other prominent Indians, exposing the vulnerability of the Indian banking system. They have also released the names of financial institutions whose accounts were hacked to a prominent financial newspaper. If this is true, India’s efforts to move towards a cashless system will receive a big setback. The government, unless it is able to secure the servers from hacking, should postpone the migration to a digital payment system.
However, in the history of cyber crimes, no country has so far been accused for its direct involvement, until the US intelligence and the Obama administration have blamed the Russian government for hacking the servers of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), and leaking the emails that probably led to the defeat of Hillary Clinton. It is believed that two groups, who were involved in hacking, were fronts of Russian intelligence agencies “KGB” and “GRU.”
The selective leaks brought into the public domain the funding by corporate houses to the Clinton foundation. This was done to damage the reputation of Hillary Clinton, who was expected to win the American presidency hands down and to influence the voters to vote for Donald Trump. It is alleged that Trump shares bonhomie with Vladimir Putin, apart from having business interest with Russia. Trump has dismissed allegations against his friend.
According to the Washington Post “the intrusions are an example of Russia’s interest in the U.S. political system and its desire to understand the policies, strengths, and weaknesses of a potential future president.” However, the US intelligence agencies have also been complicit in toppling governments that had inimical relations with the US. The Central Intelligence Agency had misled the Bush government into believing that Saddam Hussein was in possession of weapons of mass destruction, which led to the US attack in Iraq.
The post goes on to add that the hacking was part of Russia’s attempt to influence the US elections, as the Russian President Vladimir Putin had not forgiven Hillary Clinton, who had accused Putin of rigging the Russian elections of 2011. Her criticism led to the subsequent outpouring of outrage by Russians, which embarrassed Putin. He was, perhaps, waiting for an opportunity to give back to her and what better time than the US elections, where she was the candidate to win the elections hands down. It is also alleged that Putin wanted Donald Trump to win the presidential race because of Trump’s undisclosed investments in Russian companies.
According to the New York Times report, Clinton said “her stunning defeat by Donald Trump could be explained by two “unprecedented” events: Putin’s effort to “undermine our democracy” and the ill-timed release of a letter by James Comey, Director of the FBI, which said fresh emails had come to light in its investigation into her private server.” This had influenced the swing-state voters to vote for Trump, who, though lost the popular votes by whopping 2.8 million votes, but effectively won the Electoral College by 77,000 ballots in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, which swung the elections on its head.
President Obama in a recent interview has expressed incredulity at Republican Party’s support for Putin, especially when the party prided itself, during Ronald Regan’s tenure, on the United States being the bulwark against Russian influence. Furthermore, he also accused Putin for being responsible for slaughtering hundreds of Syrians.
Hackers, media outlets and WikiLeaks have widely distributed information stolen not just from the campaigns of US Democrats, but of the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) and of the ruling party of the Turkish government. The Russians who were unhappy with Wada’s decision to suspend all the athletes found guilty of doping charges and prevented from participating in Rio Olympics. Wada had also exposed the corrupt anti-doping officials of Russia who were found complicit in not pressing charges against the athletes.
The US intelligence agencies have warned Russia that they would carry out such cyber attacks on the Russian servers. If they carry out their threat, we will soon see cyber wars taking place between these two countries. It is time the countries stop the pernicious practice of cyberespionage campaigns that would only lead to a fitting response that may undermine their own security.
The author is an independent columnist and political commentator