Anonymous ID: 4f5277 Sept. 10, 2020, 7:56 a.m. No.10589024   🗄️.is đź”—kun

Dame Diana Rigg, star of 'The Avengers' and 'Game of Thrones', dies aged 82

 

Tributes are being paid to "icon" Dame Diana Rigg, who has died at the age of 82.

 

Best known for her roles in The Avengers, Game Of Thrones and On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, the veteran star of stage and screen was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year.

 

She died peacefully at home, her daughter said.

 

A statement from her agent Simon Beresford said: “It is with tremendous sadness that we announce that Dame Diana Rigg died peacefully early this morning.

 

“She was at home with her family who have asked for privacy at this difficult time. Dame Diana was an icon of theatre, film, and television.

 

“She was the recipient of Bafta, Emmy, Tony and Evening Standard Awards for her work on stage and screen.

 

He added: “Dame Diana was a much loved and admired member of her profession, a force of nature who loved her work and her fellow actors. She will be greatly missed.”

 

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/dame-diana-rigg-dies-aged-82-133335450.html

Anonymous ID: 4f5277 Sept. 10, 2020, 8:37 a.m. No.10589378   🗄️.is đź”—kun

Biden Campaign Firm Hit by Suspected Kremlin Hacking Attack

 

Intelligence officials have long been warning that Russian agents will inevitably try to interfere in the 2020 campaign—now some appear to have been caught targeting a key Biden campaign firm.

 

Reuters reported Thursday morning that suspected Russian state-backed hackers have attempted to breach the systems at Washington-based SKDKnickerbocker, a strategy and communications firm working hand-in-glove with Joe Biden’s campaign. The attacks, which took place over the past two months, were unsuccessful.

 

The failed hacking attempt was brought to SKDK’s attention by Microsoft, which reportedly gathered information identifying hackers linked to the Kremlin as the most likely suspects. The attacks are said to have mainly focussed on phishing—a common hacking method which lures users into disclosing sensitive passwords.

 

That was the method used by Russian hackers to access DNC emails, which were subsequently leaked online, ahead of the 2016 presidential election.

 

A person familiar with SKDK’s repelling to the hacking attempts said the agents didn’t get very far, telling Reuters: “They are well-defended, so there has been no breach.” Another source said it was impossible to confirm if Biden’s campaign was the target, or whether the Russians were trying to gather intel on the long list of other SKDK clients.

 

SKDK has an extremely close relationship with the Democratic Party—the firm’s managing director Anita Dunn served as a White House communications director during the Barack Obama presidency and now works for the Biden campaign as a top advisor.

 

Officially, neither SKDK, Microsoft, or the Biden campaign have commented on the Reuters report.

 

It’s not the first time Microsoft has managed to thwart suspected Russian government hackers—in 2017, the software maker identified over 120 new targets of the Kremlin’s cyber spying by suing the notorious hacker group known as Fancy Bear. Microsoft’s legal action led to the seizure of 70 command-and-control servers the hackers used to covertly direct malware on victim computers.

 

Microsoft also helped to foil the Russian intelligence agents who targeted Sen. Claire McCaskill with a phishing campaign as she began her 2018 re-election campaign.

 

Unsurprisingly, the Kremlin was quick to deny any connection to the latest attempted phishing attempts. In comments reported by the Russian government-owned TASS news agency, President Vladimir Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov said he had no idea what SKDK is and added: ”It looks like just another nonsense that is published, unfortunately, by a sometimes respected agency.”

 

U.S. intelligence officials briefed House lawmakers as early as last February that Russian actors were already interfering in the 2020 elections, once more to the benefit of Trump. The briefing was conducted for the House Intelligence Committee by an aide to then acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire, who was later forced out of his position by Trump.

 

Earlier this month, intelligence officials publicly confirmed their belief that Russia is using a range of techniques to damage Biden and, last week, the FBI stepped in to warn Facebook that Russia’s troll farm was parading as a nonprofit news organization in an attempt to promote criticism of Biden from the left.

 

The Department of Homeland Security has also discovered a Russian plot spreading disinformation about Biden’s mental health—a reoccurring theme of Trump’s attacks on his rival.

 

Biden said last Friday that the Trump administration is wrong about China being the biggest threat to U.S. elections, saying: “There are a lot of countries around the world I think would be happy to see our elections destabilized. But the one who’s working the hardest most consistently and never has let up is Russia.”

 

https://www.yahoo.com/news/biden-campaign-firm-hit-suspected-103751269.html