U.S. Officially Accuses Russian Government Of Perpetrating DNC Email Hack
As if relations between US and Russia governments weren't sensitive enough, both the Department of Homeland Security and Office of the Director of National Intelligence have officially accused Russia of being responsible for breaking into official government servers and stealing more than 19,000 emails relating to the DNC this past summer.
While some US government officials, including Hillary Clinton, have already made their own accusations towards the Kremlin, this is the first time the US government as a whole has directed blame specifically. It's unclear at this time whether or not this accusation will result in new sanctions between the two countries.
Meanwhile, Russia is sticking to its guns that it had nothing to do with the attack, going as far as calling the accusation "rubbish." The Russian government further underscores that Russian president Vladimir Putin's website gets attacked by "tens of thousands of hackers" every single day, and that while most of those attackers have origins in the US, the country does "not blame the White House or Langley each time."
The Russian foreign ministry also claims that the US lacks real evidence in these accusations, and instead accuses the US of fanning "unprecedented anti-Russian hysteria." Making this all the more interesting, Russia reiterates that it has been more than willing to meet with the US to discuss teaming up against cybercrime, but with situations as murky as they are, it seems unlikely that will happen any time soon.
Transparency website WikiLeaks has also not escaped accusation by the US here, with the organization characterized as being fueled by the Russian government. The statement reads: "The recent disclosures of alleged hacked e-mails on sites like DCLeaks.com and WikiLeaks and by the Guccifer 2.0 online persona are consistent with the methods and motivations of Russian-directed efforts." So far, it doesn't appear that WikiLeaks has responded to this particular implication.
