Clinton campaign hacked, adding to list of cyberattacks on Democrats
The list of Democratic institutions targeted by cyberattack is getting longer. Computer systems used by the campaign of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton were hacked in the same round of cyberattacks that broke into the servers of the Democratic National Committee and the party鈥檚 fundraising committee in the House of Representatives, 聽on Friday.
The Justice Department鈥檚 national security division is conducting an ongoing investigation into whether the cyberattacks could have affected US security, in which sources said was a sign that the Obama administration has concluded that a state sponsor was behind the attacks. It鈥檚 one sign among many. Ahead of the investigation鈥檚 conclusion,聽President Barack Obama cited cybersecurity experts who said that most tracks led to Russian intelligence agencies. It was even 鈥減ossible鈥�, , that the Russian government could be trying to swing US elections in favor of Republican nominee Donald Trump, whom it may see as potentially favorable for its interests.
The Clinton campaign denied that hackers had successfully broken into its systems in a statement on Friday, saying that while an 鈥渁nalytics data program maintained by the DNC and used by our campaign鈥� had been accessed, a review by outside cybersecurity experts turned up 鈥渘o evidence that our internal systems have been compromised.鈥� One campaign official cited by Reuters said that the analytics program was one of several systems used by the Clinton campaign in its voter-analysis efforts, and does not include social security or credit card numbers.
The news came just hours after the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee confirmed that it had been targeted by a cyberattack, in what may have been an effort to steal information on party donors, . And it came a week after Wikileaks made public a series of emails between DNC officials indicating that they had plotted ways to tip the scales in favor of Mrs. Clinton over Sen. Bernie Sanders (I) of Vermont.
US security officials have issued full-throated condemnations of the attacks. On Thursday, a group of 32 former homeland-security and counterterrorism officials known as the聽Aspen Institute Homeland Security Group calling on the government to step up cybersecurity protections for political parties and electoral processes and 鈥渢ake prompt actions sufficient to hold those responsible鈥� for the attacks accountable.鈥淭his is an attack not on one party but on the integrity of American democracy,鈥� they wrote. 鈥淎nd it may not be the end of such attacks...This is not a partisan issue."
Earlier this week, Russia strongly denied involvement.聽鈥淭his is absolutely absurd,鈥� said Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov of the accusations, , "and a vivid example of the use of Russophobia for the election purposes in the U.S. And this is absurd that borders on total stupidity."聽鈥淭his is not our problem, this is not our headache,鈥� said Mr. Peskov. "Americans will have to sort out what are those massive [hacks] and what they are about and what problems the publication of these massive hacks brings about."
Some US lawmakers say that the leaking of hacked information risks turning dueling espionage operations into full-blown cyber-warfare.聽Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D) of California, ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, the Washington Post聽that "the precedent has been set of operationalizing the mass leaking of the information, we鈥檙e in a whole new dangerous ballgame, with a level of brazen interference that we haven鈥檛 seen before."
