More people look at the compromised Android fire direction app that enabled Russian forces to locate and destroy Ukrainian artillery during hybrid combat in eastern Ukraine. The Ukrainian officer who developed the app and provided it to his comrades has said reporting on the hack contains "rotten information." But he also advises users to delete older versions and download the app only from him. Some commentators think the risks CrowdStrike reported overblown, because devices using the app wouldn't be Internet-connected, but video of Ukrainian gunners using the tool appears to show them connecting wirelessly to something.

The incident, the clearest instance yet of lethal tactical hacking (apart from some targeting of ISIS operators), is seen by many as a harbinger of the intersection of the cyber and kinetic domains.

CrowdStrike attributes the hack to Fancy Bear, Russia's GRU, and says the code is relevantly similar to that found in the US Democratic National Committee networks. Russian President Putin again denied meddling with US elections and expressed hope for better relations. The US still presumably has some retaliatory options in the barrel, but what those might be remains to be seen. There's not much hint of them in recent high-minded harrumphing from Director of Central Intelligence Brennan, who would decline to sink to the adversary's level, deplores "skullduggery," etc. The Council on Foreign Relations says people at Fort Meade told them that US Cyber Command likes the idea of "loud" cyber weapons, so retaliation, if it comes, may be noisily obvious.