3 ms·

I am sorry if this is a stupid question but why does anyone care if it's Russia, China or a lone US hacker? What's the point of discussing that over the content

• linkregister 10y ago
  I think it's a good question. Clearly the content of the documents should matter the most. However, whoever leaked it has an agenda. If it's a lone hacker, it's most likely for the lulz. If it's a foreign country actor, we should keep their intentions in context. I personally think it was for the lulz and this was a lone hacker.
• yompers888 10y ago
  The understanding of 'why' and 'how' changes entirely depending upon the size of the operation that did this. If it'a a lone hacker, the 'why' is pretty much lost, and the 'how' becomes very embarrassing, because individuals don't have the same access to development resources and zero-days as APT types. On the other hand, if it's an APT, we should assume substantial political scheming (because a for-profit outfit wouldn't do this.) In that case, it would be interesting to know, for example, if this is a Chinese or Russian priority to the extent required for a serious operation to be undertaken. I'm guessing people jumped on that angle because (a) this is a tech-oriented site; and (b) no one commenting has yet taken the considerable time needed to read that huge document.