5 ms·

@mods - I changed the title from the original "Russian Software Company May Be Entry Point for U.S. Hack" to be more clear, as "Russian Software Company" felt v

@mods - I changed the title from the original "Russian Software Company May Be Entry Point for U.S. Hack" to be more clear, as "Russian Software Company" felt vague and linkbait-y to me. Apologies if this violates the "No editorialized titles" policy.

polka_haunts_us 6y ago
Is JetBrains even Russian? I thought they were Czech.
- avsbst 6y ago
  The title and lede state they are "Russian-Owned" and a Czech company. Perhaps NYT edited title after publishing or original poster misread the title. Russian-Owned Software Company May Be Entry Point for Huge U.S. Hacking Russian hackers may have piggybacked on a tool developed by JetBrains, which is based in the Czech Republic, to gain access to federal government and private sector systems in the United States.
  - sam_lowry_ 6y ago
    "Russian-owned" is still largely misleading. The company is owned by Russian speakers that lived and studied in Russia before starting JetBrains. Most (if not all) of them have two citizenships by now, one is Russian. The company is not owned by the Russian state and has never been.
    - st1ck 6y ago
      In Europe, words like Russian or Czech typically mean ethnicity. Even if you live there for 20 years, learn the language and get citizenship, people likely won't call you Czech. Maybe you can be called Czechian (if it's a real word) or Praguer since those don't imply ethnicity. I don't live in Czechia though, so take this with a grain of salt. > The company is not owned by the Russian state and has never been. This is true however, and NYT did (predictably) poor job here. Unless there is any indication that JetBrains were involved in the hack, mentioning "Russian-owned" in the title is misleading.
      - flashmozzg 6y ago
        >In Europe, words like Russian or Czech typically mean ethnicity. Well, then, suddenly all those fines on some obscure Russian (alright, alright, half-Russian) company called Google all make sense now! Just another part of the sanctions!
  - vngzs 6y ago
    The title has been edited at least twice since it was published. The original title: > Russian Software Company May Be Entry Point for Huge U.S. Hack Which was changed to: > Russian-Owned Software Company May Be Entry Point for Huge U.S. Hacking Then later changed to: > Widely Used Software Company May Be Entry Point for Huge U.S. Hacking
  - dijksterhuis 6y ago
    Title has subsequently changed (possibly again): > Widely Used Software Company May Be Entry Point for Huge U.S. Hacking Seems the reporter got a fair bit of flack from folks on twitter.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- amdolan 6y ago
  Russian founders began the company in Prague and opened a Saint Petersburg office soon afterwards.
  - sam_lowry_ 6y ago
    Most of the software developers are still in Saint-Petersburg, Russia. Russian founders opened a Czech company because being Russian, they could not easily reach world markets.
    - lemming 6y ago
      Actually, I believe the reason was simply that the founders were living in Prague at the time they founded the company.

polka_haunts_us 6y ago

Is JetBrains even Russian? I thought they were Czech.

avsbst 6y ago
The title and lede state they are "Russian-Owned" and a Czech company. Perhaps NYT edited title after publishing or original poster misread the title. Russian-Owned Software Company May Be Entry Point for Huge U.S. Hacking Russian hackers may have piggybacked on a tool developed by JetBrains, which is based in the Czech Republic, to gain access to federal government and private sector systems in the United States.
- sam_lowry_ 6y ago
  "Russian-owned" is still largely misleading. The company is owned by Russian speakers that lived and studied in Russia before starting JetBrains. Most (if not all) of them have two citizenships by now, one is Russian. The company is not owned by the Russian state and has never been.
  - st1ck 6y ago
    In Europe, words like Russian or Czech typically mean ethnicity. Even if you live there for 20 years, learn the language and get citizenship, people likely won't call you Czech. Maybe you can be called Czechian (if it's a real word) or Praguer since those don't imply ethnicity. I don't live in Czechia though, so take this with a grain of salt. > The company is not owned by the Russian state and has never been. This is true however, and NYT did (predictably) poor job here. Unless there is any indication that JetBrains were involved in the hack, mentioning "Russian-owned" in the title is misleading.
    - flashmozzg 6y ago
      >In Europe, words like Russian or Czech typically mean ethnicity. Well, then, suddenly all those fines on some obscure Russian (alright, alright, half-Russian) company called Google all make sense now! Just another part of the sanctions!
- vngzs 6y ago
  The title has been edited at least twice since it was published. The original title: > Russian Software Company May Be Entry Point for Huge U.S. Hack Which was changed to: > Russian-Owned Software Company May Be Entry Point for Huge U.S. Hacking Then later changed to: > Widely Used Software Company May Be Entry Point for Huge U.S. Hacking
- dijksterhuis 6y ago
  Title has subsequently changed (possibly again): > Widely Used Software Company May Be Entry Point for Huge U.S. Hacking Seems the reporter got a fair bit of flack from folks on twitter.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
amdolan 6y ago
Russian founders began the company in Prague and opened a Saint Petersburg office soon afterwards.
- sam_lowry_ 6y ago
  Most of the software developers are still in Saint-Petersburg, Russia. Russian founders opened a Czech company because being Russian, they could not easily reach world markets.
  - lemming 6y ago
    Actually, I believe the reason was simply that the founders were living in Prague at the time they founded the company.