I’ve seen suggestions that “Russian government hackers” (sic) are responsible for the latest big digital break-in, that of the Democratic National Committee (DNC).
I don’t know much about hackers, but how do you make one into a “government hacker” – don’t they mostly work pour l’amour de l’art? Isn’t hacking a viscerally libertarian, even anarchist, activity? Can you cultivate the requisite sort of destructive creativity at some secret FSB facility?
I’m sure that talented hackers are far from an endangered species in Russia, but how does one trick or force them into enthusiastically targeting what one (a spook? a Geopolitician?) wants broken into? And if there’s a know-how, how come the US hasn’t mastered it?