What We Know About the Russia Hacks
When the DNC emails were leaked this summer, the Democratic Party didn't hesitate to point the finger at the Russian government. The evidence? Clues in the metadata, the history of the suspected hacking groups, and the testimony of anonymous officials and private cyber-security firms. In early October, the Obama administration made it official, with the heads of the Department of Homeland Security and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence issuing a joint statement declaring that the "US Intelligence Community is confident that the Russian government directed the recent compromises of e-mails...to interfere with the US election process." Before long, there were hints of a US counterattack.
But not everyone is so certain. Jeffrey Carr, a cybersecurity consultant and author of "Inside Cyber Warfare," has been skeptical of the intelligence community's assessment of the hacks--and the media's coverage of this assessment--from the beginning. He talks to Bob about his doubts, the risks of false attribution, and why we need a higher standard of evidence when making claims about cyber war.
