Re: And its another "Fake But True.." story... from a politically motivated anonymous leak..
If politics intersects with technology, it is still technology news.
You can disagree with the characterization or the editorialization of the article, and while I don't care, personally, about attacking Russia electronically, I do find the willingness of the federal administration to cozy up to Russia unsettling. I help operate and secure OT technologies and all the short-sighted, sometimes knee-jerk behavior that this administration has openly shown to IT security, its seemingly unguarded attitude to a country that has been borderline hostile for the last 80-100 years to be worrisome. The back-and-forth on tariffs, calling back fired federal workers, backtracking on policies clearly illustrates no understanding of the systems created or a lack of clarity to a purpose, which to me clearly demonstrates lack of expertise, callousness, and dangerousness through ignorance.
The idiot would be the person who takes unverified sources as truth and constructs their daily operations around water cooler gossip. But I would also say it would be foolish to completely ignore all gossip and not have it a part of your risk assessment. Assessing all the statements put forth by the federal administration, their actions, and any anonymous sources in the federal government, the position that Russia is considered less of a security threat by federal agencies or that wouldn't take active countermeasures is not fantastical assertion. I may not be able to do anything about it or change my day-to-day, but it does mean that I might be more on my own when it comes to mitigating external threats.
This administration doesn't have to be actively destructive to our national security to create issues, apathy is just as bad. You can argue not putting on your seatbelt isn't actively destructive to your safety, but it doesn't stop your face from being rearranged by a windscreen/windshield.
By using your own judgement and assessments, you should be able to determine the effort you should put into assessing the danger described by the anonymous sources. Should you panic and up your OT budget by 200%? No. But would 5-10% increase because of federal uncertainty be in order? Probably wouldn't hurt.