The Russians! It's the Russians!

President Obama and his top national security advisers began receiving periodic briefings on the huge cyberattack at JPMorgan Chase and other financial institutions this summer, part of a new effort to keep security officials as updated on major cyberattacks as they are on Russian incursions into Ukraine or attacks by the Islamic State.

But in the JPMorgan case, according to administration officials familiar with the briefings, who would not speak on the record about intelligence matters, no one could tell the president what he most wanted to know: What was the motive of the attack? “The question kept coming back, ‘Is this plain old theft, or is Putin retaliating?’ ” one senior official said, referring to the American-led sanctions on Russia. “And the answer was: ‘We don’t know for sure.’ ”

More than three months after the first attacks were discovered, the source is still unclear and there is no evidence any money was taken from any institution.

  NYT

No, but it sure is good for a Red Scare tactic.  Gee, a huge cyberattack with no money taken and no one claiming responsibility.  Hmmm.

We’re finally getting Russia back into the role of Evil Enemy #1. It seemed downright ridiculous when Condi Rice kept harping on Russia as the world’s villain and our need to combat its attempts to take over the world, when the more likely truth is that Russia is a major block in our path to doing it. Condi’s probably drooling over what the Obama administration has been able to do in that regard.

The F.B.I. has begun a criminal inquiry into the attacks, and the Secret Service has been involved as well. But the scale and breadth of the attacks — and the lack of clarity about the hackers’ identity or motive — show not only the vulnerability of the most heavily fortified American financial institutions but also the difficulty, despite billions of dollars spent in detection technology, in finding the sources of attack.

And because it is so difficult to trace an attack to its source, it is next to impossible to deter one, security industry experts said.

But we can still say it was the Russians.

If you haven’t already, please listen to ex-CIA Russian expert Ray McGovern’s interview regarding the Ukraine/Russia issue.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.