Update on the DNC Hacking!

In my previous attempt to piece things together I had taken things said by specific people who are, or may be, involved, and put them together, and then I accepted one premise made by the American Intelligence Community, that the Russians had hacked the DNC and given information to WikiLeaks. That challenged some of the content of the first post and gives anyone investigating this stuff a place to ask questions.

What am I writing in this post:

I'm going to use some information Louise Mensch had collected and written as an article to name the hackers and the connection to WikiLeaks and to the Trump campaign. This all depends upon information the Intelligence Community has found and announced, but has not made public. Ms. Mensch is a former Conservative member of Parliament in the U.K. and she writes at patribotics by Louise Mensch. The particular article which I want to use as reference is Putin's Hacker, Wikileaks Host Pyotr Chayanov, Hacked America's Vote System And the DNC | patribotics.

From the Hackers to WikiLeaks to Putin:

First, the hacker(s) was(were) Guccifer 2.0, a group working for a Russian company named Hostkey which is owned by a hacker named Pyotr Chayanov.

Second, it's not clear how the next association occurred, but Chayanov may have offered the hacked DNC data to WikiLeaks in exchange for a more substantial relationship with WikiLeaks. Shortly before the DNC data was published by WikiLeaks, they contracted with Chayanov's company (Hostkey) to host WikiLeaks. That's right, they are financially connected at the hip. Even worse, Chayanov's Hostkey was given access to WikiLeaks SSL keys (security information in network communications), which gave Hostkey access to technical network information about individuals who had read the WikiLeaks webpages or who had contributed to WikiLeaks.

Third, Hostkey and Chayanov are in the pocket of Vladimir Putin (as are most things in Russia).

Conclusion:

So, that means we have Chayanov's people hacking the DNC and working with WikiLeaks to publish the information of their choosing and gaining network information about WikiLeaks readers and contributors and presumably handing any of this to Putin which he might demand.

Connection: Putin, Alpha Bank, SCL, Cambridge Analytica, Steve Bannon, and the Trump Campaign:

First, Ms. Mensch's article claims, without named sources, that this hacked data was also sent to Strategic Communication Laboratories Group (SCL) and its subsidiary Cambridge Analytica.

Wikipedia tells us about Cambridge Analytica: Cambridge Analytica (CA) is a privately held company that combines data mining and data analysis with strategic communication for the electoral process. It was created in 2013 as an offshoot of its British parent company SCL Group to participate in American politics. In 2014, CA was involved in 44 U.S. political races. The company is heavily funded by the family of Robert Mercer, an American hedge-fund billionaire. The firm maintains offices in New York City, Washington, D.C., and London. In 2015 it became known as the data analysis company working initially for Ted Cruz's presidential campaign. In 2016, after Cruz's campaign had faltered, Cambridge Analytica started to work for Donald Trump's presidential campaign. The company also worked on behalf of the pro-Brexit campaign in 2016. The role and impact of the company's data analysis on those campaigns has been disputed. Cambridge Analytica is owned by SCL and SCL is heavily funded by the family of Robert Mercer.

Robert Mercer is a Libertarian who prefers little or no government and funded the campaign behind Citizens United, to remove limitations on campaign contributions of various kinds and to slander Hillary Clinton.

Second, Steve Bannon, one of Donald Trump's political advisers works/worked with Cambridge Analytica.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/cambridge-analytica-steve-bannon-robert-rebekah-mercer-donald-trump-conflicts-of-interest-white-a7435536.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/31/business/dealbook/how-some-top-trump-aides-made-their-fortunes.html

Third, in 2015 and 2016 many states voter rolls were hacked and it has been assumed that was done by Russian hackers.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/russian-hackers-targeted-half-states-voter-registration-systems/story?id=42435822

It has been argued that the Russians combined this information with the DNC voter information at Cambridge Analytica and the IP addresses from WikiLeaks to create their micro-targeting campaign.

Fourth, Ms. Mensch theorizes that the Russian Alfa Bank owns the SCL Group through subsidiaries. Following linkages to determine the truth of this is beyond me.

Conclusion, if true:

It would mean Vladimir Putin controls Alpha Bank which owns SCL (with investors such as Robert Mercer) and they directed Cambridge Analytica (with assistance from Steve Bannon) to find ways to micro-target a political campaign at individuals, using their IP addresses gleaned from WikiLeaks, in critical places such as Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. Only a handful of districts had to vote for Trump for the entire election to turn in his favor.

Icing on the Cake May Be Too Much:

Ms. Mensch completes the picture by arguing that Alpha bank could transfer this information to a computer server owned by the Trump Organization. I don't know why that would be necessary if Steve Bannon could have hand-carried the information to the Trump computers, but it is still feasible since the Trump Organization server WAS communicating with Alpha bank!

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/09/politics/fbi-investigation-continues-into-odd-computer-link-between-russian-bank-and-trump-organization/

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/3/20/1645280/-Alpha-Bank-Putin-Trump-and-Betsy-DeVos-Why-the-bizarre-Russian-Trump-computer-connections

http://thehill.com/policy/cybersecurity/323303-fbi-still-investigating-computer-link-between-trump-organization-russian

Some of the information here is documented and known. Some is not. That gives investigators more precise areas to search.