Name and Shame? Obama points to Russia on DNC email hacking
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama's decision to identify Russia as almost certainly the culprit in hacking the Democratic National Committee and releasing politically embarrassing emails fits his administration's new penchant for openly blaming foreign governments for such break-ins.
Obama traditionally avoids commenting on active FBI investigations, but he told NBC News on Tuesday that outside experts have blamed Russia for the leak and appeared to embrace the notion that President Vladimir Putin might have been responsible because of what he described as Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's affinity for Putin.
The emails showed DNC staffers actively supporting Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton when they were publicly promising to remain neutral during the primary elections between Clinton and rival candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders.
The developing U.S. strategy, unofficially dubbed "name and shame," is intended to raise diplomatic consequences for foreign governments involved in state-sponsored hacking.
The Obama administration has publicly blamed North Korea for the hack of Sony Pictures Entertainment and filed criminal charges against five Chinese military officials it accused of siphoning corporate secrets and against Iranian hackers it accused of digital attacks on a New York dam.
The decision to publicly identify attackers is about holding foreign governments accountable, said Justin Harvey, chief security officer for Fidelis Cybersecurity of Bethesda, Maryland.
In Syria, despite deep mutual frustration, the U.S. and Russia are trying to work together to end a five-year civil war that has killed as many as 500,000 and led to global terrorism fears.