{"id":18861,"date":"2017-01-06T09:27:58","date_gmt":"2017-01-06T09:27:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=18861"},"modified":"2017-01-06T09:49:31","modified_gmt":"2017-01-06T09:49:31","slug":"fbi-dems-bfbi-dems-bicker-over-investigation-of-hacked-serversicker-over-investigation-of-hacked-servers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/technology\/fbi-dems-bfbi-dems-bicker-over-investigation-of-hacked-serversicker-over-investigation-of-hacked-servers.html","title":{"rendered":"FBI, Dems bicker over investigation of hacked servers"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

FBI, Dems bicker over investigation of hacked servers<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

FBI, Dems bicker over investigation of hacked servers<\/strong>:-The Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the FBI are fighting over reports that claim the bureau did not conduct an independent analysis of the party’s hacked servers.<\/span><\/p>\n

The DNC told Buzzfeed in a statement published Wednesday that the FBI never requested access to its servers after they were breached.<\/span><\/p>\n

But a senior law enforcement official disputed that characterization on Thursday.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe FBI repeatedly stressed to DNC officials the necessity of obtaining direct access to servers and data, only to be rebuffed until well after the initial compromise had been mitigated,\u201d the official said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis left the FBI no choice but to rely upon a third party for information. These actions caused significant delays and inhibited the FBI from addressing the intrusion earlier.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

But a former FBI official told The Hill it’s not unusual for the bureau to bypass a direct examination of a hacked server.<\/span><\/p>\n

“In nine out of 10 cases, we don’t need access, we don’t ask for access, we don’t get access. That’s the normal [procedure],\u201d Leo Taddeo, a former special agent in charge of the cyber division of the FBI\u2019s New York office, told The Hill.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s extraordinarily rare for the FBI to get access to the victim’s infrastructure because we could mess it up,” he added. “We usually ask for the logs and images, and 99 out of a hundred times, that’s sufficient.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Asking for direct access to a server wouldn’t be necessary, Taddeo said, “unless there was a reason to think the victim was going to alter the evidence in some way.”<\/span>
\n The Hill has reached out to the DNC for comment but did not receive a response before this story was published.<\/span><\/p>\n

DNC deputy communications director Eric Walker told BuzzFeed that, \u201cThe DNC had several meetings with representatives of the FBI\u2019s Cyber Division and its Washington (D.C.) Field Office, the Department of Justice\u2019s National Security Division, and U.S. Attorney\u2019s Offices,\u201d but added, \u201cthe FBI never requested access to the DNC\u2019s computer servers.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

And according to Buzzfeed, no U.S. intelligence agency has done an independent forensics analysis on the servers.<\/span><\/p>\n

Instead, the bureau relied on analysis done by the third-party security firm CrowdStrike, which investigated the breach for the DNC.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCrowdstrike is pretty good. There\u2019s no reason to believe that anything that they have concluded is not accurate,\u201d an intelligence official told BuzzFeed.<\/span><\/p>\n

The dispute comes against the backdrop of fierce Democratic outrage over the FBI’s role in the 2016 election.<\/span><\/p>\n

Many \u2014 include outgoing Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) \u2014 have explicitly blamed FBI Director James B. Comey for Hillary Clinton’s surprise loss in November.<\/span><\/p>\n

Eleven days before Election Day, Comey sent a letter to lawmakers telling them investigators had uncovered new emails that could be “potentially pertinent” to the bureau\u2019s previously completed probe of Clinton’s private email server.<\/span><\/p>\n

The announcement exploded in the final days of the election \u2014 and a subsequent missive from Comey saying the new emails had turned up no new evidence did little to quell the storm.<\/span><\/p>\n

The spat has also highlighted a simmering dispute about whether the FBI dropped the ball in investigating the breach.<\/span><\/p>\n

When the bureau first contacted the DNC about a nation-state breach of its systems, the tech-support contractor who fielded the call was unsure if the special agent was actually from the FBI, or was a prankster. For weeks, the agent continued to call the committee, but did not receive a response.<\/span><\/p>\n

CrowdStrike President Shawn Henry, who is also a former head of the FBI’s cyber division, told The New York Times he was shocked the FBI didn’t send an agent to the DNC’s offices directly.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe are not talking about an office that is in the middle of the woods of Montana,\u201d Henry said. \u201cWe are talking about an office that is half a mile from the FBI office that is getting the notification.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

But the statement of the law enforcement official who spoke to the The Hill casts the DNC as recalcitrant and difficult to work with throughout the investigation.<\/span><\/p>\n

At the time of the first FBI contact, the DNC was dealing with fallout from evidence that Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-Vt.) campaign had improperly accessed Clinton’s campaign data, which may have colored its response.<\/span><\/p>\n

Security experts say it’s common for lawyers for private organizations to turn down requests from law enforcement for access to servers. Comey has publicly bemoaned that fact, wishing aloud that companies would trust the FBI more.<\/span><\/p>\n

Companies or private organizations might turn down the FBI over concerns about leaks to the media, or information that might come out in court. IT staff also worry about the FBI possibly damage a company\u2019s systems.<\/span><\/p>\n

A source with experience in both FBI cyber investigations and private sector forensics said over the past five years or so, it’s become common to let well-established companies handle forensics — even after the FBI comes in.<\/span><\/p>\n

Forensic procedure involves documentation, allowing the FBI to focus on other aspects of the work. In issues with sensitive information, such as those involving email breaches of high-profile victims, the FBI occasionally prefers not to ever have data that could be mishandled.<\/span><\/p>\n

Controversy continues to surround the intelligence community\u2019s assessment that Russia was behind the cyberattack on the DNC and Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta\u2019s personal email account.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Obama administration has characterized the hacks as an attempt to interfere in the U.S. election, and officials have said they are \u201c100 percent certain\u201d that Russia is the culprit.<\/span><\/p>\n

But President-elect Donald Trump has repeatedly rejected that assessment, characterizing it as an attempt by the Obama administration to undermine his presidency.<\/span><\/p>\n

In a series of tweets this week, Trump accused intelligence officials of delaying a briefing until Friday in order to build a case against Russia \u2014 an allegation denied by other officials.<\/span><\/p>\n

He also appeared to side with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who released emails believed to have been hacked by Russia, over U.S. intelligence agencies. Trump noted in a tweet that Assange has said the emails did not come from Russia, while repeating that anyone could have hacked the DNC.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSomebody hacked the DNC but why did they not have \u2018hacking defense\u2019 like the RNC has and why have they not responded to the terrible things they did and said (like giving the questions to the debate to H). A total double standard! Media, as usual, gave them a pass.\u201d Trump tweeted Wednesday.<\/span><\/p>\n

The White House has been under fierce pressure to provide a public account of the intelligence community’s assessment.<\/span><\/p>\n

It delivered its final, classified assessment to President Obama on Thursday, which intelligence officials say will be released in an unclassified form to the public early next week.<\/span><\/p>\n

Security experts widely derided a joint Homeland Security-FBI report released last week that purported to give technical indicators linking Russia to the breaches, calling it overly broad and \u201ca mess.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

CrowdStrike has gone much further in its published forensics analysis and its evidence is strong, outside experts say, because Russia is widely known to conduct the kind of \u201cactive measures\u201d the administration has accused it of using in this case.<\/span><\/div>\n

source:-:<\/b>http:\/\/thehill.com\/policy\/cybersecurity\/312957-fbi-dems-bicker-over-investigation-of-hacked-servers<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t <\/div><\/div>\n\t\t