patrick.net

#russianhackers2016 60 Minutes is a big news program here on Sunday night. Last night they had a segment about Russian hackers who attacked the Democratic Party during the 2016 election. They interviewed the former head of the FBI department in charge of stopping hackers and bringing them to justice. Quite a number of Russian military officers, intelligence officers, and even academics have been indicted for hacking offenses. I was dazzled by the whole segment. Many of these Russian organizations are super-secret, as you can imagine. The FBI was able to pierce this veil of secrecy. They had the insignias of the various Russian military and intelligence organizations. They found the perpetrators who did the dirty deed and even had beautiful pictures of them in their dress uniforms. The suspects were indicted by a Federal grand jury.
Obviously, the Russians are not going to send these hackers to the US to stand trial. But those indicted now have severe limits on their international travel for the rest of their lives. I have some good Russian friends. They love to travel to Europe and the US. If one of these indicted men showed up at a European Union or US border entry point, they would be detained and held for US authorities. Aha, you think, Russian FSB (intelligence) can give them a passport under a false name. At many border entry points, they take your picture. I would not be surprised if your picture is run through facial recognition software. You know that old saying:
"You can run, but you just can't hide."