Russian hacking scandal

The huge leak of information from the CIA just published by Wikileaks gives a fascinating picture of how the CIA goes about its business, though I doubt there is much there which will come as a surprise to most people.
In light of all the swirl of activity around the DNC and Podesta leaks and the various allegations of Russian hacking, two questions however immediately stand out for me.
1. The technology used in the DNC/Podesta leaks is decades old and crude.  Are the Russians really so far behind the CIA?

The Russians have weighed into the row over what President Trump’s National Security Adviser, General Michael Flynn, said about sanctions to Russian ambassador Kislyak during a series of telephone conversations which took place on 29th December 2016 before Donald Trump’s inauguration.

The Russians have finally provided the first definite official information about the arrests of FSB officers and hackers which have been taking place in Moscow since December.

The Russian media is reporting today that Ruslan Stoyanov, a manager working at the Kaspersky Lab, Russia’s leading cyber security and anti-virus provider, has been arrested by Russia’s counter-intelligence agency the FSB.
The FSB’s involvement, and the fact that Stoyanov is apparently being charged with treason, inevitably provokes speculation that he was providing information to the intelligence agency of some foreign government.

US President Obama in what was supposed to be his final press conference as President (it turns out he may be giving another one tomorrow morning) made a very interesting comment about the role of Wikileaks in the publication of the DNC and Podesta emails, which appears to cast doubt on the whole story of Russian interference in the US election.

Russian President Vladimir Putin broke his long silence today, both about the Trump Dossier and about the campaign which has raged in the US around the alleged Russian involvement in the Clinton leaks.

One particular myth that is being created around Donald Trump’s news conference, which is intentionally spread by sections of the news media, is that Trump during the press conference “finally” accepted the US intelligence community’s claims about Russia’s role in the US election.

That the ‘Trump dossier’ is working to Donald Trump’s advantage, and that he is a far more skilful politician than some people suppose him to be, found confirmation from his press conference today.
The ODNI report which was published on Friday proved to be so empty of evidence that in my opinion it did more long term harm to the reputation of the US intelligence community than it did to Donald Trump’s legitimacy, or to his policy of detente with Russia.

Disclosure that the author of the ‘Trump Dossier’ is a former British intelligence agent comes just days after media reports circulated that it was British intelligence that first alerted US intelligence in October 2015 of Russia’s supposed interference in the US Presidential election on behalf of Donald Trump.
This in turn begs the question of what if any role Britain has had in the whole scandal?

That the so-called “dossier” on Donald Trump, which Buzzfeed has published in full, is largely the inventions of a single individual is easily established by reading its contents.