Washington Post has been particularly ridiculous this season
 

The WaPo headline of last night said Russian hackers penetrated the electrical grid through a utility in Vermont!!

It turns out there was a lone laptop involved, quickly isolated, infected with what the community calls "commodity malware" - a virus developed and then sold and widely spread. Created in Russia, likely -- but who used it? No-one can say right now!

In the light of morning day, the WaPo actually contacted the utility and got the details -- someone tried actual journalism! -- and decided to change their headline to something less ominous.

But by then the story had tweaked everyone's pleasure centers. This is how we end up with bubble facts. A virus created and sold by Russian hackers, making it onto a utility company laptop, is not "Russia hacking the power grid". In fact it is not actually NEWS -- talk to anyone in IT who's had a shitty accountant in the office, clicking on things with her laptop... were the Russians hacking my old AM/FM radio data services company too???

The idea that there is some kind of threat is only there for the drama of it. And that drama only works because we don't understand the whole thing. We don't understand, we don't know the facts, and we're entirely willing to BELIEVE. Ya remember Y2K?

I want to believe™.

Believe you me, no shit, looky there, just as you wanted to think, couldn't be anything else. Oh look, there's another one.

Buy a newspaper mister?

That is how most data breeches are done. When dealing with the grid, any breech by simplistic software is a major news story. Breeching (stealing) the payroll for a company is a problem - not anywhere as serious. Power grid utilities cannot accept such trivial software breeching on any of their computers. Since that is how passwords are stolen to, in one case, cause major machine to self-destruction.

If commodity malware can breech security, then how bad is their security? A threat even to power for The Cellar. Never forget a massive 2003 blackout created by operational mismanagement in only one company in Ohio - First Energy. A looming disaster fortunately and successfully stopped by PJM, New England Power Authority, and Quebec Electric.

What's easier than hacking a utility's computer network?

Hacking the maintenance supervisor's laptop.

OK, I just started on some homeopathic remedy just a bit ago, and (when normally I can understand TW), I just cant now. I'll re-read it later.

I'm having a bit of a fake news moment here.

lol, thats funny, are you using the same?

Nah, I just celebrated 9(?) years without any sort of remedy. I truly wish some news organization would step up their game.

:) Congratulations...?

For me it's good. I've peeled away enough layers to be okay with myself unadulterated.

good

A few really major lefty journalists have taken notice. Glenn Greenwald gave the WaPo a huge slap for it. Because it's like the WMD days:

Matt Taibbi wrote two days ago (before the WaPo bogosity), "Something About This Russia Story Stinks: Nearly a decade and a half after the Iraq-WMD faceplant, the American press is again asked to co-sign a dubious intelligence assessment" and he had the same complaint about the administration's "I offer you no proof but obviously Russia did it":

I've always maintained this nation went to hell when the Commies quit the cold war.
Before that we had full employment, a chicken in every pot, two cars in every garage.

The Post is doing their part to make America great again.

I read Taibbi's article. He is mostly clear-headed (in my opinion). He is the one, though, that sparked my 'puppet masters' conspiracy theory belief, with his 'vampire squid' characterization of Goldman Sachs. I believe he wrote honestly about his feelings on this matter.