Russian agent hired alleged Yahoo hacker, Canadian Karim Baratov

The Hamilton man accused of being a co-conspirator in the Yahoo data breach had already been advertising that he was a hacker for hire when he was directly retained, via e-mail, by an officer of the Russian security service, new court documents allege.

The documents, produced in support of a bid by the U.S. government to extradite Karim Baratov, also allege the 22-year-old resident of the Hamilton suburb of Ancaster has been a hacker-for-hire for years, breaching thousands of accounts outside of the Yahoo case and earning $211,000 during a three-year period.

Among the documents filed at the Hamilton courthouse is an affidavit by Detective Constable Burak Inal of the Toronto Police fugitive squad, which arrested Mr. Baratov on Tuesday morning. The affidavit reveals that, after a request from U.S. officials, the RCMP had placed Mr. Baratov under surveillance for at least six days before he was taken into custody.

The court documents state that Mr. Baratov, a Canadian citizen who was born in Kazakhstan, was first contacted in late 2014 by Dmitry Dokuchaev, identified in a U.S. indictment as an officer of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), working in the agency’s Center 18, its centre for information security.

According to recent Russian media reports, Mr. Dokuchaev was a hacker using the alias Forb until he was coerced into working as a computer specialist for the FSB. He was one of four cybersecurity experts Russian authorities arrested in December and accused of treason.

The latest court files do not detail why Mr. Dokuchaev is alleged to have picked Mr. Baratov, who had a highly visible social-media footprint through which he displayed a flashy lifestyle of cigars, fancy cars and Rolex watches.

Mr. Dokuchaev is alleged in the court documents to have used a Yahoo e-mail account to contact Mr. Baratov and hire him to get the log-in information for about 80 accounts belonging to victims of the Yahoo hack.

The victims included a prominent Kazakh banker, Russian government officials and even Russian cybersecurity company officers, the court filings allege.

It is not clear whether police believe Mr. Baratov knew he was communicating with a Russian intelligence agent. Mr. Baratov is alleged to have created phishing e-mails designed to lure the targets into clicking on bogus links and then providing their log-in credentials.

Mr. Baratov would then send a screenshot of the account to his Russian handlers once he had gained access, the documents state, and provided the full log-in to the Russian FSB only after securing payment.

The payments are alleged to have travelled through Web accounts including a PayPal account that links to a Royal Bank chequing account in Mr. Baratov’s name. Between February, 2013, and October, 2016, Mr. Baratov received more than $211,000 via that PayPal account, the court records say, adding, however, that the amounts he is alleged to have earned from the Yahoo scheme are smaller.

The court documents also allege Mr. Baratov shared images of other people’s passport photos, “which triggers the FBI’s concern that Baratov may be trafficking in personally identifiable information harvested from his hack of his victims’ e-mail accounts.”

In describing him as a flight risk, the police affidavit states that Mr. Baratov had been engaged in alleged criminal activity for several years, and allegedly hacked thousands of other accounts unconnected to this case since 2012.

It states that his activities are Web-based and could be taken up anywhere if he went on the run.

“Given the serious nature of his conduct, the public impact of his hacking for hire conduct, his substantial earnings as a result of unlawful hacking, and his ties to foreign intelligence officers with nation state resources at their disposal, he should be arrested on an urgent basis and detained,” the U.S. extradition request says.

“Baratov’s skills are especially concerning. Given the vast scope of his hacking, Baratov has access to the contents of an enormous number of email accounts, not just his own. Accordingly, given his international ties, the international locus of his assets and the portability of his business, Baratov presents a significant flight risk.”

Allegations in the court documents match reports by The Globe and Mail and others that Mr. Baratov operated several Web pages advertising hacking services.

Mr. Baratov appeared in Hamilton court via video on Friday. He was dressed in an orange shirt and stood silently listening to proceedings. The judge turned down a request from his lawyers for a publication ban. Mr. Baratov will have a bail hearing on April 5.

Amedeo Dicarlo, one of Mr. Baratov’s lawyers, said the allegations against his client are unfounded.

“This is an attack by the U.S. government, it’s a challenge by the U.S. government. We are fighting that challenge,” he told reporters outside court before the hearing, The Canadian Press reported.

Bail hearing set for accused Yahoo email hacker Karim Baratov

A Canadian man of Kazakh origins arrested in a massive hack of Yahoo emails appeared briefly via video in a Hamilton court Friday, where a date was set for his bail hearing.

Twenty-two-year-old Karim Baratov is set to return to court for the hearing on April 5.

Baratov did not say anything during his court appearance, looking straight ahead with his hands in front of him.

He was arrested under the extradition act on Tuesday in the Ontario community of Ancaster.

U.S. authorities said on Wednesday that Baratov and three others — including two men alleged to be officers of the Russian Federal Security Service — were indicted for computer hacking, economic espionage and other crimes.

One of Baratov’s lawyers said outside court that the allegations against his client are unfounded.

Amedeo Dicarlo, who spoke to reporters before Baratov’s hearing, said he will fight a push to have his client extradited to the U.S.

“Our essential goal is to get Mr. Baratov out,” Dicarlo said. “This is an attack by the U.S. government, it’s a challenge by the U.S. government. We are fighting that challenge.”

Dicarlo said his client is “healthy” and “confident” but declined to answer questions about Baratov’s personal life or profession, describing him only as an “entrepreneur.”

“I cannot describe what Karim does nor who he is until the time is right,” he said. Baratov’s family is also asking for privacy, he said.

After court, Baratov’s second lawyer, Deepak Paradkar said a date for an extradition hearing has not been set.

He wouldn’t comment on the allegations against his client, nor would he comment on speculation that his client may be a flight risk.

“There’s an indictment that’s filed in the United States,” he said. “It’s pretty extensive. Twenty to 30 charges.”

Paradkar also noted that Baratov is no longer a Kazakh citizen.

U.S. officials have said Baratov also went by the names Kay, Karim Taloverov and Karim Akehmet Tokbergenov.

The three other suspects in the case are Dmitry Aleksandrovich Dokuchaev, 33, Igor Anatolyevich Sushchin, 43, and Alexsey Alexseyevich (Magg) Belan, 29, all Russian nationals and residents. It’s not clear whether they will ever step foot in an American courtroom since there’s no extradition treaty with Russia

Dokuchaev and Sushchin are said to be Russian intelligence agents who allegedly masterminded and directed the hacking, the U.S. Justice Department has said.

The pair allegedly tasked Baratov with hacking more than 80 accounts in exchange for commissions, according to U.S. authorities, who submitted a provisional arrest warrant for Baratov to Canadian authorities March 7.

Yahoo, which is based in California, sent an email in September alerting users that their account information — including email addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth, passwords and security questions — had been stolen in a cyberattack two years earlier.

The company said at least 500 million user accounts were affected.

Extradition fight for accused in Yahoo hack is ‘political’: Lawyer (The Canadian Press)

Trump seeks Congress' help on wiretap claim; FBI disputes it

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PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump turned to Congress on Sunday for help finding evidence to support his unsubstantiated claim that former President Barack Obama had Trump's telephones tapped during the election. Obama's intelligence chief said no such action was ever carried out, and a U.S. official said the FBI has asked the Justice Department to dispute the allegation.

Republican leaders of Congress appeared willing to honor the president's request, but the move has potential risks for the president, particularly if the House and Senate intelligence committees unearth damaging information about Trump, his aides or his associates.

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Trump claimed in a series of tweets without evidence Saturday that his predecessor had tried to undermine him by tapping the telephones at Trump Tower, the New York skyscraper where Trump based his campaign and transition operations, and maintains a home.

Obama's director of national intelligence, James Clapper, said nothing matching Trump's claims had taken place.

"Absolutely, I can deny it," said Clapper, who left government when Trump took office in January. Other representatives for the former president also denied Trump's allegation.

The FBI has asked the Justice Department to dispute Trump's allegations, a U.S. official told The Associated Press on Sunday. The official wasn't authorized to discuss the request by name and spoke on condition of anonymity.

No such statement has been issued by the Justice Department. DOJ spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores declined to comment Sunday, and an FBI spokesman also did not comment.

The New York Times reported that senior American officials say FBI Director James Comey has argued that the claim must be corrected by the Justice Department because it falsely insinuates that the FBI broke the law.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer said without elaborating Sunday that Trump's instruction to Congress was based on "very troubling" reports "concerning potentially politically motivated investigations immediately ahead of the 2016 election." Spicer did not respond to inquiries about the reports he cited in announcing the request.

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Spicer said the White House wants the congressional committees to "exercise their oversight authority to determine whether executive branch investigative powers were abused in 2016." He said there would be no further comment until the investigations are completed, a statement that House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi took offense to and likened to autocratic behavior.

"It's called a wrap-up smear. You make up something. Then you have the press write about it. And then you say, everybody is writing about this charge. It's a tool of an authoritarian," Pelosi said.

Spicer's chief deputy, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, said she thinks Trump is "going off of information that he's seen that has led him to believe that this is a very real potential."

Josh Earnest, who was Obama's press secretary, said presidents do not have authority to unilaterally order the wiretapping of American citizens, as Trump has alleged was done to him. FBI investigators and Justice Department officials must seek a federal judge's approval for such a step.

Earnest accused Trump of leveling the allegations to distract from the attention being given to campaign-season contacts by Trump aides with a Russian official, including campaign adviser Jeff Sessions before he resigned from the Senate to become attorney general. The FBI is investigating those contacts, as is Congress.

Financial Worries? 

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr, R-N.C., said in a statement that the panel "will follow the evidence where it leads, and we will continue to be guided by the intelligence and facts as we compile our findings."

Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said in a statement that the committee "will make inquiries into whether the government was conducting surveillance activities on any political party's campaign officials or surrogates."

The committee's top Democrat, Rep. Adam Schiff of California, said Trump was following "a deeply disturbing pattern of distraction, distortion and downright fabrication."

The office of House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., referred questions to Nunes, while a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said McConnell would not tell the Senate committee how to do its work.

Trump said in the tweets that he had "just found out" about being wiretapped, though it was unclear whether he was referring to having found out through a briefing, a conversation or a media report. The president in the past has tweeted about unsubstantiated and provocative reports he reads on blogs or conservative websites.

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The tweets stood out, given the gravity of the charge and the strikingly personal attack on the former president. Trump spoke as recently as last month about how much he likes Obama and how much they get along, despite their differences.

"How low has President Obama gone to tapp my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!" he tweeted, misspelling 'tap.'

Obama spokesman Kevin Lewis said Saturday that a "cardinal rule" of the Obama administration was not to interfere in Justice Department investigations, which are supposed to be conducted free of outside or political influence.

Lewis said neither Obama nor any White House official had ever ordered surveillance on any U.S. citizen. "Any suggestion otherwise is simply false," Lewis said.

Trump used a similar approach with his unsupported claims of massive voter fraud that he said caused him to lose the popular vote to Democrat Hillary Clinton. He eventually said he wanted to launch a "major" investigation to find the 3 million to 5 million votes he claims were cast illegally. Congressional leaders were cool to the idea — a costly and time-consuming effort.

Trump has been trailed for months by questions about his campaign's ties to Russia. Compounding the situation is the U.S. intelligence agencies' assessment that Russia interfered with the election to help Trump triumph over Hillary Clinton, along with disclosures about his aides' contacts with a Russian official.

Worried about the economy? 

Clapper appeared on NBC's "Meet the Press," Sanders and Earnest were on ABC's "This Week," Pelosi commented on CNN's "State of the Union" and Cotton was on "Fox News Sunday."

___

Associated Press writer Eric Tucker in Washington contributed to this report.

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Follow Darlene Superville at http://twitter.com/dsupervilleap

Istilah dan Singkatan dalam Pemilihan Umum (PEMILU)

Selamat malam para pengunjung dimana saja anda berada, semoga selalu dalam keadaan sehat wal-afiat saja, aamiin. Senang rasanya dapat berbagi kembali dengan kawan-kawan semua. Pada kesempatan malam ini saya akan share sedikit tentang PILKADA, yaitu mengenai Istilah dan Singkatan dalam Pemilu (Pemilihan Umum), Awalnya saya tidak tahu apa kepanjangan dari KPU, KPPS, PPS, dst. maklum saya bukan aktivist kampus dan bukan pula perangkat Desa, juga bukan politisi. melainkan blogger kelas teri,,,,

 

Alhamdulilah, setelah membaca-baca sana-sini, kini saya sedikit tahu kepanjangan dan definisi tentang Beberapa Istilah dan Singkatan dalam Pemilu (Pemilihan Umum).

 

Beberapa Istilah dan Singkatan dalam Pemilu (Pemilihan Umum), adalah sebagai berikut;

1. Komisi Pemilihan Umum (KPU)
2. Panitia Pemilihan Kecamatan (PPK)
3. Panitia Pemungutan Suara (PPS)
4. Tempat Pemungutan Suara (TPS)
5. Kelompok Penyelenggara Pemungutan Suara (KPPS) 
6. Badan Pengawas Pemilu (BAWASLU)
7. Badan Pengawas Pemilu Provinsi (BAWASLU Provinsi) 
8. Pengawas Pemilu Lapangan (PPL) 
9. Dewan Kehormatan Penyelenggara Pemilu (DKPP)
10. Pemilih tunadaksa adalah pemilih dengan cacat tubuh.
11. Pemilih tunanetra adalah pemilih yang tidak dapat melihat.
12. Peserta Pemilu adalah partai politik untuk Pemilu Anggota DPR, DPRD Provinsi, DPRD Kabupaten/Kota dan perseorangan untuk Pemilu anggota DPD
13. Calon adalah calon Anggota DPR, DPD, DPRD Provinsi, DPRD Kabupaten/Kota.
14. Calon Anggota DPR, DPRD Provinsi dan DPRD Kabupaten/Kota diajukan partai Politik peserta pemilu; calon Anggota DPD maju secara perseorangan.
15. Saksi peserta Pemilu adalah saksi peserta Pemilu yang mendapat surat mandat tertulis dari partai politik atau dari calon Anggota DPD.
16. Pemantau Pemilu dilaksanakan oleh pemantau Pemilu yang telah diakreditasi oleh KPU, KPU Provinsi, dan KPU Kabupaten/Kota.
17. Tempat Pemungutan Suara (TPS) 
18. Daftar Pemilih Tetap (DPT)
19. Daftar Pemilih Tambahan (DPTb)
20. Daftar Pemilih Khusus (DPK)
21. Daftar Pemilih Sementara (DPS)
22. Pemilih Sementara Hasil Perbaikan (DPSHP)
23. Daftar Pemilih Tetap (DPT),
24. Daftar Pemilih Khusus Tambahan (DPKTb)
25. Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat (DPR)
26. Dewan Perwakilan Daerah (DPD)
27. Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat Daerah (DPRD).

Sumber : PANDUAN KPPS 2017.

Ahok Message to Journalists at the National Press Day 2017

Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama - Ahok

Liputan6.com, Jakarta - Every February 9 is celebrated as National Press Day (HPN). At this moment, the future incumbent governor of Jakarta Basuki Purnama Tjahaja claimed to have the alias Ahok expectations for the press in Indonesia.

Are the expectations candidate number two?

"Anyway, members of the press to convey the truth," said Ahok Region Tegal Alur, West Jakarta, Wednesday, February 8, 2017.

 Not to forget Ahok also congratulate the National Press Day for members of the media. "Congratulations Press Day to all my friends," said Ahok.

 At this time the National Press Day, President Joko Widodo attend a memorial in Ambon, Maluku. Warning HPN in Ambon attended by more than 3,000 people, including members of the press from all 34 provinces in Indonesia, the general public, and representatives of friendly countries.

 The series of events "party of the press Homeland" was held for five days, starting February 5 and will culminate on February 9.