Shannon VavraNEW: Hackers broke into a news service and spread a fake story of an assassination plot against the incoming pro-Russia president of Slovakia. An intelligence agency official tells me the op is likely Russian or done at Russia's behest. https://www.thedailybeast.com/news-agency-hack-spawns-fake-assassination-story-on-slovakian-president?ref=topic
Intelligence-gathering is ongoing, I'm told.
But for context—the Belarusian hacking group “Ghostwriter” hacked into other news sites in order to spread fake stories before, and we know the line between control in Belarus and Russia is blurrier than ever: https://www.thedailybeast.com/putins-favorite-ally-belarusian-leader-alexander-lukashenko-is-caving-in-to-the-kremlin
