Russia | League Of Technical Voters

After the election, hackers target think tanks with phishing attacks

Security firm Volexity believes the emails come from the same Russians accused of hacking the DNC.

Now that the election is over, the Russian teams of hackers suspected of breaking into the Democratic Party’s systems have reportedly launched a new phishing attack on US political think tanks and non-government organizations. Incident response firm Volexity has compiled information on “The Dukes” (aka APT29 or Cozy Bear) that it believes are behind the attacks. This time around, they worked by posing as a Harvard professor, sending links to Microsoft Office Word or Excel documents that contained a macro used to install a malware downloader on that target’s computer. Once installed, it downloads a PNG file that has a backdoor embedded via steganography.

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Russia is blocking LinkedIn

A Moscow court has ruled the social network is in violation of local data collection regulations.

While LinkedIn is still waiting for the ink to dry on Microsoft’s $26.2 billion deal, the Russian government is gearing up to ban the professional networking site altogether. As the New York Times reports, a local court in Moscow has ruled that LinkedIn is not in compliance with with the country’s data protection rules. The company will be blocked from operating in Russia starting Thursday, but the company can still appeal the court’s decision.

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How Moscow Uses Interpol to Pursue Its Enemies

VILNIUS, Lithuania — Facing trial in Russia over the theft of a street-art drawing valued by its creator at $1.55, Nikita Kulachenkov, a Russian forensic accountant involved in anticorruption work, fled to Lithuania to avoid what he decided was a doomed battle against trumped-up charges.

What he did not realize was that Russia’s reach these days extends far beyond its borders. Arriving in Cyprus from Lithuania in January to join his mother for a holiday, Mr. Kulachenkov was stopped at airport passport control, questioned for hours by immigration officials and then taken in handcuffs to a police detention center.

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Putin says Russia ready to fully restore ties with U.S.

Nov 9 Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday Russia was ready to fully restore relations with the United States following the election of businessman Donald Trump as the new U.S. president.

Receiving credentials from new foreign ambassadors to Russia, Putin said he had heard Trump’s campaign statements about improving ties with Moscow. He said Russia was ready do its part to achieve this but recognised it would not be easy.

Improved relations would benefit both Russia and the United States, he added.

(Reporting by Polina Devitt and Christian Lowe; Writing by Jack Stubbs; Editing by Alexander Winning)

Meet the man called the Donald Trump of Russia

MOSCOW — Vladimir Zhirinovsky, also known as the “Trump of Russia,” just won big in recent elections. And he hopes to be celebrating again in November.

“If Mr. Trump is a president of the United States, it would be a holiday for Russia,” he told CBS News.

The ultra-nationalist leader is one of Donald Trump’s most vocal supporters in Russia. Even his opinion of Hillary Clinton matches the more radical fringe of Trump supporters.

“Madame Clinton has all the signs of Parkinson’s illness. It’s a very bad illness,” Zhirinovsky said.

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Putin’s party wins majority in parliamentary elections

(CNN)Russian President Vladimir Putin’s political party, United Russia, has won a majority in the country’s parliamentary elections.

According to a report from Russian state-run news agency Interfax, United Russia won 54.21% of the vote, with 90% of all votes counted.

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Imagine what would happen if ‘Voice of America’ tweeted #CorruptPutin’

Michael McFaul explains how Russia became a major theme in the US presidential race

Russia has become one of the major themes of this year’s presidential contest in the United States. While questions about domestic policy typically dominate the race to the White House, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, and the biggest media outlets in the US have regularly focused on Vladimir Putin, the annexation of Crimea, and various acts by Russian intelligence agencies. At Meduza‘s request, former US Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul explains Moscow’s unexpected role in the presidential election.

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Putin meets Erdogan for 1st time since downing of Russian jet

Turkish president Recep Tayip Ergodan is meeting with “his friend” Vladimir Putin in hopes of turning a fresh page in the two countries’ relations. It is their first meeting since Turkey downed a Russian bomber over Syria last November.

“Your visit, which comes amid a very complicated situation in Turkey, indicates that all of us want to revive our dialogue and restore relations for the sake of the Turkish and Russian peoples,” President Putin said, greeting Erdogan in St. Petersburg.

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Yekaterinburg says it will keep the giant granite sphere painted by unknown artists to look like a Pokéball

The local authorities in the city of of Yekaterinburg have embraced the viral video game Pokémon in a big way, electing not to repaint a granite sphere located across from the regional government building on the Iset river embankment. The sphere in question was recently painted by unknown artists to look like a giant “Pokéball,” which players of the augmented-reality game Pokémon Go use to catch “Pokémons.”

“I don’t see any harm in it,” Yekaterinburg Mayor Evgeny Roizman told reporters, adding, “People like to play, and this is how they express their emotions. If this art object isn’t angering anyone, then let it stay there.”

Yekaterinburg officials say they’ve yet to receive any complaints about the “art installation.” The mayor noted that the city might simply wait, and remove the red-and-white paint sometime before August 18, when Yekaterinburg celebrates its founding anniversary.