US government shuts out Russia cyber firm

Which "cyber-invasions" did we instigate and what makes you so sure it was us? Throwing money at a foreign election is not a cyber campaign. Hacking into a US organization's servers to find dirt on that organization is (not to mention also illegal). I am no fan of Obama's actions in Israel and the fact he got away with it, but it does not constitute a "cyber-invasion" as you put it. He sent money to specific organizations which supported the opposition to Benjamin Netanyahu, claiming it wasn't to favor any candidate (yes, I call BS on that too). In the end it could not be proven that the intent was to unseat Netanyahu, thus he got away with it.

Now, speaking to the article above, we should be getting bent out of shape for what the Russians are doing. It's been well known within the cyber community what people started Kaspersky Labs and the likelihood that there could be ties between the anti-virus software company and the Russian government. I am by no means a fan of the DNC and I appreciate the fact that their dirty laundry has finally been exposed but I do not like the manner in which it was exposed. I find it sad on the DNC's part that no one within the organization recognized the unethical behavior and exposed it themselves.

As for the "we do it too" argument, maybe that's true but so what? We spy on others and we compete with others, all to serve the same goal of staying on top as a nation in this world. If and when we get caught performing espionage, that country is typically outraged, just like we would be. So when it comes to another country trying to influence our elections, yes I become concerned. But I'm also not naive enough to think it doesn't happen or that we don't play a role in it as well. Our own country started with the help of foreign influence (i.e. the French sticking it to the British). Russia's role in this election definitely produced something I think is significant (assuming they were indeed the ones who captured and disseminated the dirt on the DNC). So I have to put this into perspective... Was the dirt significant? Absolutely! Should the American voters know all about it? Yes. Do I approve the means it was captured. Not when it's done illegally. Should we ignore it? No!

Maj Kevin "Mac" McLaughlin - Stutznet. BTW, Mac, you shot me down in flames!!! Good rebuttal. I must leave to put out the fire!!!

Not trying to shoot you down. Stuxnet was allegedly a combined operation by the US and Israel (talk about irony). To date I don't think we've officially confirmed we did it. However, launching a cyber campaign to degrade a nuclear program which was banned by the international community can hardly be compared to spying on other countries or influencing their elections. What we allegedly did here is similar to using a kinetic attack like we did in Iraq against WMDs. If they were to launch an air attack against us, would we not be outraged?