Russian President Vladimir Putin says Russia definitely didn’t hack the Democratic National Committee and expose embarrassing emails, but dang, he sure is glad someone did it. You know, for the American people.
AP Images
“Listen, does it even matter who hacked this data?” Putin told Bloomberg. “The important thing is the content that was given to the public. There’s no need to distract the public’s attention from the essence of the problem by raising some minor issues connected with the search for who did it. But I want to tell you again, I don’t know anything about it, and on a state level Russia has never done this.”
Russia has never done this… on a state level, says Putin. What about other levels, Vlad?
The hack on the DNC was pretty embarrassing for Hillary, who has had a tense relationship with Putin over the years.
We know, of course, that Russia most probably did do the DNC hack according to analysis done by cybersecurity company CrowdStrike. The FBI thinks so too. From Bloomberg:
An internal DNC probe by CrowdStrike Inc., a cybersecurity company, traced the DNC break-in to two groups it says are linked to Russian intelligence services. One, Cosy Bear, it says is affiliated with the Federal Security Service, the main successor to the KGB, while the other, Fancy Bear, it says is tied to the Main Intelligence Directorate, a branch of the Defence Ministry.
James Lewis, a cybersecurity expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said Russia’s “track record” of state hacking goes back at least a decade, so Putin’s denials aren’t credible.
But still, nothing to see here folks.