THREAD:
From the Start, Trump Has Muddied a Clear Message: Putin Interfered 1)
nyti.ms/2LyhO1C

There is a ton to absorb in this article. I chose a few things that really popped out at me to dig into more. This thread is about the following paragraph: 2)

The same Russian groups had been involved in cyberattacks on the State Department and WH unclassified email systems in 2014 and 2015, and in an attack on the Joint Chiefs of Staff.....3)

🔥🔥 They had aggressively fought the N.S.A. against being ejected from the White House system, engaging in what the deputy director of the agency later called “hand-to-hand combat” to dig in. 4)

"Hand to hand combat" to dig in? What are they referencing here? The only hand to hand combat I know is this..... 5)
businessinsider.com/the-9-dirtiest…

But what does this mean in reference to a cyber attack? I am in no way an IT expert, but I know a few so I reached out to them for guidance. 6)

I was directed to a term I had never heard before.... CYBER-WARRIOR 7)
techopedia.com/definition/286…

"Cyber-warriors wage war using information technology. They may attack computers or information systems through hacking or other related strategies, or defend them from their counterparts." 8)

"Cyber-warriors also may find better ways to secure a system by finding vulnerabilities through hacking and other means and closing those vulnerabilities before other hackers find and exploit them." 9)

"Countries that are unable to match the U.S. in terms of military technology have resorted to cyberwarfare, a method that can still do a lot of damage in terms of economic cost. Various agencies in the U.S. are under constant attack from numerous countries." 10)

"In response, the U.S. military is training war veterans and wounded soldiers who can no longer fight in the field in the art of cyberwarfare to become cyber warriors and continue defending their country in this new form of battle." 11)

Ok, but hand to hand combat? How is that related to Cyber- Warriors? This is where it gets interesting. 12)

Here is the IMPORTANT part:
Cyber-warriors are working in REAL TIME. This means as Russian cyber attacks are actually occurring, the US has a team of cyber-warriors who are at that very moment fending off the attack/hack. 13)

At that very moment, the two sides of the cyber war are actively engaged in hand to hand combat. One wants to steal the data, the other wants to protect it at all costs. 14)

Unfortunately, Russia was successful. They were able to somehow find and exploit the vulnerabilities of our systems and get around our US cyber-warriors. But how? 15)

Could it be that someone who had inside knowledge of our systems' vulnerabilities tipped them off? I don't know. But, in order to circumvent our cyber-warriors, the hackers must be truly amazing and/or had some inside help. IMO and again, I am no expert. 16)

Which brings me here..... "Booz Allen, a consulting firm that earns billions of dollars by working for American intelligence agencies, has been called the world’s most profitable spy organization." 17)
nytimes.com/2016/10/07/us/…

"Harold Martin III, 51, was charged with theft of government property and unauthorized removal and retention of classified materials by a government employee or contractor after searches of his home.... 18)
cnn.com/2016/10/05/pol…

and property revealed hard-copy and digital files containing "highly classified information." 19)

"Among the documents the FBI believes Martin stole were some detailing a hacking tool that the NSA developed to break into computer systems in other countries. Documents detailing the tools were posted on the Internet in recent months." 20)

"FBI investigators haven't concluded what Martin's motivation for stealing the documents. But so far they don't believe he did it for a foreign country." 🤔21)

Yes... Booz Allen has a problem. #Snowden 22)
politico.com/story/2013/06/…

Jan 2017 "Mr. Snowden, a former National Security Agency contractor who was granted asylum in Russia in 2013, will be allowed to remain in the country for “a couple more years,”23)
nytimes.com/2017/01/18/wor…

Snowden found himself stranded in Moscow 4 years ago after he was thwarted in attempts to fly to Latin America following the publication of articles in The Guardian & The Washington Post, revealing extensive surveillance and data collection programs operated by NSA 24)

Mr. Snowden is accused of violating the Espionage Act in the US and would face at least 30 years in prison if convicted. 25)

Some privacy advocates have lionized Mr. Snowden as a whistle-blower, while his opponents and government officials have cast him as a defector, particularly in light of his seeking asylum in Russia. 26)

In the battle of the CYBER-WARRIORS, we need all hands on deck. Clearly, there are some who will have no problem selling our secrets. Who knows whether Russia had any inside help in the hand to hand combat war for our data? I'll let you decide. end)