Article: Feds Charge NSA Contractor Accused of Exposing Russian Hacking
By: Andy Greenberg
Date Published: 6/5/17
At the beginning of this past June, sensitive information about the Russian hacks that occurred during the election of 2016 was leaked and given to the Intercept from the NSA. Reality Leigh Winner violated her security clearances and made information hidden by the NSA available to the public. Due to her releasing this info, the public was no longer only aware that Russia had been "leaking information from Democratic organizations," but that they had also been working to "disrupt the election's technical infrastructure." The Russians had attempted to hack into political voting systems by sending phishing emails to staff who worked at companies in charge of these systems. By trying to gain access to the internal networks of the systems, eight states could have potentially had issues registering voters and keeping those individuals from voting in the election. Instead of releasing this information to the public, the NSA chose to keep this news behind locked doors until a contractor felt that the public had a right to know what was going on with the Russians hackings. The article then goes on to warn that those who hand out sensitive information, whether by hacking into companies or finding another way to get this data, comes with a cost as well as government interaction.
I believe that Reality Leigh Winner did what was best to an extent with her leak. I agree that the public should know about all of this information, however, if the NSA had a reason for keeping this information secret, then it was most likely a good one. We do not know if the government was following certain leads and trying to take action against the Russians who did the hacking. If they had been, this really could have messed things up. I believe that the Intercept did the right thing by contacting government agencies to make sure that any information that might be "damaging to national security," was redacted and kept from the public's eye. Without Winner sharing this information, we do not know if the public would have ever been made aware of these other hacks attempted by the Russians.
Due to the recent government hacks and leaks, I feel that more security measures, both on paper as well as in code, will be put in place to keep similar events from occurring again. After the Russian hacks during the 2016 election, companies hopefully noted how they had gotten in and worked on upgrading their security codes to keep evolving with the hackers around the world. Along with this, due to the laws that are in place, most individuals are kept in line and do not give out leaks to the public in fear of government retaliation. For the general public that would like to stay up to date on any large hacks, paying attention to world news should give just about enough information to satisfy most people. If not, a simple Google search and a click into other news outlets should provide more information.
I believe that Reality Leigh Winner did what was best to an extent with her leak. I agree that the public should know about all of this information, however, if the NSA had a reason for keeping this information secret, then it was most likely a good one. We do not know if the government was following certain leads and trying to take action against the Russians who did the hacking. If they had been, this really could have messed things up. I believe that the Intercept did the right thing by contacting government agencies to make sure that any information that might be "damaging to national security," was redacted and kept from the public's eye. Without Winner sharing this information, we do not know if the public would have ever been made aware of these other hacks attempted by the Russians.Due to the recent government hacks and leaks, I feel that more security measures, both on paper as well as in code, will be put in place to keep similar events from occurring again. After the Russian hacks during the 2016 election, companies hopefully noted how they had gotten in and worked on upgrading their security codes to keep evolving with the hackers around the world. Along with this, due to the laws that are in place, most individuals are kept in line and do not give out leaks to the public in fear of government retaliation. For the general public that would like to stay up to date on any large hacks, paying attention to world news should give just about enough information to satisfy most people. If not, a simple Google search and a click into other news outlets should provide more information.
Article: https://www.wired.com/2017/06/feds-charge-alleged-nsa-leaker-exposed-russian-election-hacking/
Image: http://wkrg.com/2016/12/12/gop-leaders-call-for-russian-hacking-probe-after-trump-slams-cia-again/
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