KYIV, Ukraine—If the FBI proves Russia is behind Friday’s leak of embarrassing Democratic National Committee emails, the revelation would be consistent with Russia’s pattern of clandestine and overt gambits to influence the politics of its perceived adversaries.
“In the Putin era, Russia has been aggressive on many fronts, including invasions of Georgia and Ukraine,” said Kenneth Geers, ambassador of NATO’s cybersecurity center and a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council.
“In cyberspace, the concepts of sovereignty and jurisdiction are much less clear,” Geers, who lives in Kyiv, told The Daily Signal. “If Putin can deny that his tanks are in Donetsk, he can certainly deny that his malicious code is in a DNC server.”
The Kremlin has denied any involvement in the hack of the Democratic National Committee. But, according to some experts, this is textbook KGB tradecraft, updated for the digital age.
