Russians Didn't Orchestrate Trump's Election - So Let's Move On

By Gary S. Miliefsky

Ever since Americans woke up on the morning of Nov. 9, 2016, to find out that Donald Trump had won the presidential election and would be the 45th President of the United States, many have been wondering how Trump pulled it off.

Plenty of conspiracy theories made their way to the mainstream as many people were convinced that something fishy was afoot and Trump could not have won the election without behind-the-scenes dirty work. Voter suppression, ballot stuffing, vote buying and dead voters were just some of the theories thrown out there. But perhaps the most popular was that the Russian government somehow hacked the election and sent Trump to the Oval Office for at least the next four years.

Only if the Russians planted actors with physical access to our voting equipment could they have hacked the election because voting machines are not online. It's not possible to hack them from the outside. In fact, since the hacked Virginia election in 2014, when voting machines in Virginia were found to be picking up wi-fi signals, it has been illegal for voting machines to be hooked up to the internet in any capacity – hard line or through wi-fi, according to the Federal Election Commission.

With 3,141 counties in the United States (3,084 of which Trump won) and multiple voting districts within most of those counties, it seems like a near impossible task for the Russians to find a way to compromise enough voting machines – either physically or by somehow giving them access to the Internet – to turn the tide of the election.

No doubt it would be possible for the Russians – or even the Chinese who make most electronic equipment in the U.S., and have backdoors into America beyond Russia’s capability – to hack into a political party’s servers. However, this would not affect the outcome of a national election.

Of course, the Russians have been suspected of meddling in the elections of other countries, including this past weekend in the French presidential election. And a congressional investigation has been launched into Trump’s former national security adviser possibly taking money from the Russians during the campaign, raising questions about whether Russians interfered in a non-hacking way.

Of course, there are questions about who hacked the Democratic National Committee’s email or Hillary Clinton’s email server. We hear it was the Russian government, right? Well, I’m guessing wrong but here’s where I need evidence.

Where were the IP addresses hosted that hacked the DNC and Hillary Clinton’s server? Yes, they were in Russia.  However, Vladimir Fomenko, owner of King Servers of Russia, a tiny GoDaddy-like internet host, who offers hosting starting as low as $5 per month has made some important statements:

1. His servers were pointed to as the source of the attack upon the DNC and U.S. elections.  However, anyone with a credit card can rent a server there and now suddenly you are “in Russia.”
2. Once Fomenko found out, he traced the account holders/renters of servers where these attacks originated to Europe. That means someone was logging into rented Russian-geo-located-servers to launch some older Russian malware remotely from Europe.
3. He claims that the authorities (the FBI and others) don't care, don't want the server logs and don't want to help him track down those who leveraged his servers to commit the alleged attack.

Now, we have a joint FBI and Department of Homeland Security report directly pointing at the Russian government for the attack and sanctions against the Russians were begun before President Obama left office.

Pointing a finger at the Russian government, without digging deeply into the remote access to these servers from Europe, placing sanctions on them, seems to be making a big mess. It's glaringly obvious that the Homeland Security joint report with the FBI skipped over this major issue.

I always call it like it is even if my analysis is unpopular. I don't think the Russian government is ever this sloppy in their hacking attacks and while sometimes it takes many years, time will tell and truth will prevail as to what really happened. For now, I'm sticking with my original prediction: The CIA was wrong, and the Russians did not hack the U.S. election, nor could they. With too many years on the job in the anti-hacking community, in these matters, I'm usually right.

Much of the evidence that has come out points to the Russians not doing much of anything to try to influence the U.S. election in 2016, and only time will tell how much involvement they may have played in the French election.

Given those facts, it is time to either investigate these issues or for the nation to move forward.  Moving forward seems to be the least damaging to the nation. So let’s do it, shall we?

Gary S. Miliefsky is the CEO of SnoopWall, Inc. (www.snoopwall.com) and a co-inventor of the company’s innovative breach prevention technologies. He is a cyber-security expert and a frequent invited guest on national and international media commenting on mobile privacy, cyber security, cyber crime and cyber terrorism, also covered in both Forbes and Fortune Magazines. He has been extremely active in the INFOSEC arena, and he is an active member of Phi Beta Cyber Society, an organization dedicated to helping high school students become cyber security professionals and ethical hackers. He founded and remains the Executive Producer of Cyber Defense Magazine. Miliefsky is a Founding Member of the US Department of Homeland Security.  His detailed bio is at http://www.garymiliefsky.com

MSFT Store to Add iTunes

Here is a surprise: at its Build developer conference, Microsoft today announced that Apple’s iTunes will come to the Windows Store by the end of the year. The iTunes app will have full iPhone support and users will essentially get the same iTunes experience from the Windows Store app that the existing Windows app currently offers, including access to Apple Music and the iTunes Store.

Why is this a big deal? Windows 10 S only runs Windows Store apps and unless an application like iTunes is available in the store, those users who want to buy a Surface Laptop, for example, either have to upgrade to Windows 10 Pro (which may not always be an option) or forego syncing their iPhones with their new Windows PC.

Details about this arrangement with Apple remain vague, though. Microsoft didn’t show any screenshots of what this experience will look like, for example, but there’s a good chance that Apple will use this opportunity to rewrite large parts of iTunes to better support its rival operating system and adapt iTunes’ design to Microsoft’s new Fluent Design system (or maybe that’s just wishful thinking on my part and iTunes in the Windows Store will be as clunky there as it is everywhere else).

Gamers

More people are devoting their free time to gaming.

Nielsen, the data group you know best for TV ratings, released its 2017 report on the gaming market today. It notes that 64 percent of U.S. population 13 years of age and older are gamers in 2016, up from 63 percent in 2015. That figure was at 58 percent in 2012.

Nielsen attributes the steady growth to new software like Pokémon Go and Overwatch, while the launch of updated consoles like the PlayStation 4 Pro has expanded consumer choices.

Also, 46 percent of gamers only play on one device in 2017, up from 42 percent year-over-year. Meanwhile, those who play on two devices is down from 40 percent to 38 percent.

Nielsen is noting that after years of growth, mobile and tablet game seems to be leveling off a bit. It says that 62 percent of console gamers also play games on mobile and tablets in 2017, down from 66 percent in 2016. Nielson also noted that 47 percent of gamers name consoles as their favorite device to play on. Computers followed at 27 percent, with mobile close behind at 26 percent.

People are also spending more of their leisure time playing games. People in the U.S. devote 12 percent of their leisure time to gaming in 2017, up from 11 percent in 2016.

Happy Mother's Day

EA Quarterly Profits

Video-game publisher Electronic Arts adjusted quarterly profit handily beat analysts' estimates, lifted by demand for high-margin digital downloads of its games such as "Battlefield 1".

The results pushed up the company's shares nearly 4 percent to $99.70 in after-market trading on Tuesday, putting them on track to open at a record high.

EA also forecast current-quarter adjusted profit above analysts' average estimates and said it would buy back up to $1.2 billion of shares over a two-year period.

Sales from EA's digital business surged 30.6 percent to $934 million in the fourth quarter ended March 31, as players increasingly buy games online rather than physical copies at retail stores.

However, EA's profit fell to $566 million, or $1.81 per share, in the quarter, from $899 million, or $2.79 per share, a year earlier.

The year-earlier quarter included an income tax credit of $453 million.

Excluding items, EA reported a profit of 85 cents per share, handily beating the average analysts' estimate of 75 cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

The company's revenue rose 16.7 percent to $1.53 billion in the quarter.

However, on an adjusted basis, revenue of $1.09 billion was in line with analysts' expectation.

EA released its action role-playing videogame "Mass Effect: Andromeda" toward the end of its fourth quarter, with the game hitting No. 3 on market research firm NPD's March list for top-selling games in the United States.

The company said it ended up deferring about $53 million in "Mass Effect: Andromeda" sales from the fourth quarter into the first quarter, because of deluxe editions of the game, which triggered a revenue deferral.

Amazon Alexa News

Look out, world: Alexa is coming to a screen near you. Today Amazon unveiled the Echo Show, a WiFi-enabled home device with a seven-inch screen that is the newest addition to its Alexa-powered Echo range of home hubs that plays media and responds to voice commands.

While previous versions of the Echo have been all about asking Alexa questions and getting responses from her, this new device takes a more IRL turn: one of the main selling points is that you can use the Echo Show to make and take video calls, with other humans.

The device, which comes in black and white versions, will cost $229.99 and will be shipped from June 28, with preorders available now. It appears that it will be available first in the U.S. only.

For those who follow the company, the new device may not come as a surprise, following several leaks about the product before today, with two coming in the last week alone, one yesterday claiming the device would be unveiled today.

“Echo Show brings you everything you love about Alexa, and now she can show you things. Watch video flash briefings and YouTube, see music lyrics, security cameras, photos, weather forecasts, to-do and shopping lists, and more. All hands-free—just ask,” Amazon notes in its blurb on its product page. You can use the device for video calls and it looks like it will also integrate and enhance skills that you already use on the existing Echo, for example you can now see music lyrics for Amazon Music. It also has Dolby-powered speakers and eight microphones, and lets you use existing Alexa skills that do not have a video component. You can see more on how the Echo Show works in Romain’s run-down here.

The device’s potentially biggest feature — the calls and messaging — also herald’s Amazon’s move into a key, new area of services. Alexa Calling, as the feature is named, will also work on other Echo devices, and the Alexa app. More on this here.

The device weighs 41 ounces, nearly 1.1 kilos. It’s not a mobile phone replacement, that’s for sure!

Chromebook Sales

In a slowing PC market, Chromebooks siphoned market share away from Windows PCs in 2016 as their popularity grew outside the education market.

Chromebook shipments grew by a stunning 38 percent in 2016 compared to 2015. Gartner estimated 9.4 million Chromebooks shipped, compared to 6.8 million units in 2015.

The number is just a fraction of overall PC shipments, but growth came in an otherwise down PC market. Overall PC shipments in 2016 were about 270 million units, a decline of about 6.2 percent, according to Gartner.

Looking forward, 2016 may go down as the best year ever for Chromebook shipment growth. Gartner is estimating shipments to continue growing in the coming years but at a slower pace.

In 2017, Gartner is projecting Chromebook shipments to be about 10.9 million units, a growth of about 16.3 percent compared to 2016. In 2018, the shipments will total about 11.9 million units, a growth of 8.6 percent.

Analyst firm IDC has also predicted Chromebook shipments will grow by double-digit percentages in coming years. Most of the Chromebooks are shipping to classrooms in the U.S., Nordic countries, Australia and New Zealand.

There is also growing interest in Chromebooks from businesses in the finance and retail sectors. Companies are using Chromebooks as no-frills mobile thin clients, considering they are cheap to deploy and easy to manage, said Mikako Kitagawa, an analyst at Gartner.

Traditional client-server virtual desktops can be expensive to deploy and hard to manage. Conventional thin clients from companies like Dell, HP, and Ncomputing aren't portable but remain popular as a way to centralize data on servers.

Chromebooks run on Google's Chrome OS and are targeted at users who do most of their computing on the web. They are popular in classrooms because they are rugged, low-cost and fit into the limited budgets of schools. Schools are switching to Chromebooks from the expensive and fragile iPad.

The iPad had limited use for educators, many of whom need a keyboard, Kitagawa said.

While popular in the U.S., Chromebooks still haven't broken through in international markets, especially in Asia, Kitagawa said.

Some basic problems, like a lack of cellular modems, are holding back the adoption of Chromebooks. Chromebooks today are reliant on Wi-Fi, which has a strong presence in the U.S. but not developing countries, Kitagawa said.

Google, however, is taking steps to grow in international markets. Android is popular worldwide, and many new Chromebooks support apps downloaded from the Google Play store. Newer Chromebooks have touchscreens to run Android apps.

Microsoft this week announced Windows 10 S OS to counter the growing popularity of Chromebooks. Windows 10 S will run applications downloadable from the Windows App store, similar to Chromebooks.

Also, like Chromebooks, teachers will be able to easily set up Windows 10 S laptops. Laptops with Windows 10 S will be priced starting at around US$189 will begin shipping in the coming months.