Posted on 06/14/2016 2:17:04 PM PDT by Kaslin
Hackers connected with the Russian government breached the computer network of the Democratic National Committee, gaining access to the entire database of opposition research on Donald Trump, DNC officials and cybersecurity, experts said Tuesday. DNC leaders were reportedly informed of the intrusion in late April.
The hackers were able to read all of the Democrats' email and chat traffic, according to officials who responded to the breach.
The Washington Post reports that the breaches crossed political lines:
The intrusion into the DNC was one of several targeting American political organizations. The networks of presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump were also targeted by Russian spies, as were the computers of some GOP political action committees, U.S. officials said. But details on those cases were not available.
A Russian Embassy spokesman said he had no knowledge of such intrusions.
Some of the hackers had access to the DNC network for about a year, but all were expelled over the past weekend in a major computer cleanup campaign, the committee officials and experts said.
The DNC said that no financial, donor or personal information appears to have been accessed or taken, suggesting that the breach was traditional espionage, not the work of criminal hackers.
The depth of the penetration reflects the skill and determination of the United States’ top cyber adversary as Russia goes after strategic targets, from the White House and State Department to political campaign organizations.
“It’s the job of every foreign intelligence service to collect intelligence against their adversaries,” said Shawn Henry, president of CrowdStrike, the cyber firm called in to handle the DNC breach and a former head of the FBI’s cyber division. He noted that it is extremely difficult for a civilian organization to protect itself from a skilled and determined state such as Russia.
“We’re perceived as an adversary of Russia,” he said. “Their job when they wake up every day is to gather intelligence against the policies, practices and strategies of the U.S. government. There are a variety of ways. [Hacking] is one of the more valuable because it gives you a treasure trove of information.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin has spoken favorably about Trump, who has called for better relations with Russia and expressed skepticism about NATO. But unlike Clinton, whom the Russians probably have long had in their spy sights, Trump has not been a politician for very long, so foreign agencies are playing catch-up, analysts say.
“The security of our system is critical to our operation and to the confidence of the campaigns and state parties we work with,” DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz said. “When we discovered the intrusion, we treated this like the serious incident it is and reached out to CrowdStrike immediately. Our team moved as quickly as possible to kick out the intruders and secure our network.”
Dmitri Alperovitch, co-founder and chief technology officer of CrowdStrike, told CNN that two separate Russian intelligence-linked groups breached the DNC's networks:
The group that stole Trump's opposition file is closely linked to a Russian military intelligence organization, Alperovitch said. A different Russian group was monitoring the communications servers of the DNC, including email, for about a year.
Intelligence experts say that the Russians are particularly skilled at this type of intelligence gathering, and under Obama the United States just hasn't kept up its security.
Russian hackers stole DNC research on Trump, firm says
Dems allowed it so Putin would leave Hillary/Dingle Berry alone.
under Obama the United States just hasn’t kept up its security....Duh? Whut?
Probably not much there....anything interesting they ought to drop immediately. It would take the air out of Hilary’s campaign
A system designed to be hacked. Like Hillary’s.
If you hand your information over to the KGB spy down by the railroad tracks, you are guilty of espionage and can be sent to prison. If you just place it on a hackable server, you are a victim of a hack. If you send it to the New York Times and they print it on page one, you are a whistle-blower and a hero.
Modern espionage has evolved. Aldrich Ames probably could kick himself.
I like Putin, I think with Trump, we could calm down a lot of Middle East fires, and have good working relationships with other countries...why fight each other like Hussein and the Butcher has been, when we could get the globalist, neo cons; CFRs; RINOs; DINOs; Super pacs; lobbyists and the other trouble makers out of the way...
Hoping that DWS and all of the HRC team are sweating bullets over this. :)
I wonder how much of this opposition research came directly from the IRS, NSA, FBI, etc.
It’s not just “adversaries” that spy on each other.
British and Israeli intelligence, for example, spy on us, and vice versa.
Given the anti-Russian warmongering in the obama Administration, as well as anti-Brexit activities (for example), it’s no wonder that this spying occurs.
I hope that Russia gives the Trump campaign access to DNC oppo research, and makes the Crooked Hillary e-malls available to us all!!!!
And the hildabeast says Trump has no idea about national security.
Or Vladimir is helping things along by providing some ‘inoculation’ of the info that the dems were going to spring at a more opportune time.
Putin knows he can do business with Trump.
Kinda what I was thinking...this might have been done as a gesture to Trump from Russians....kinda like we got your back guy
The jokes write themselves. This is perfect following upon all the crazy RAT excuse making of the past couple of days.
It just falls right into place...first Russia came out yesterday and said that they were going to release Hillary’s emails, we know Russia has them, and then they ‘hacked’ the DNC...
This is Russia’s way of saying what you said: “We got your back”...they are facing down ISIS also, but Putin is a man like Trump, takes no crybabies...and this is a good thing...
Yup, two alpha dogs that can do business.
Hillary’s stupid plastic reset button had to have Vladimir and the boys rolling their eyes and laughing their asses off.
Strength is respected. Weakness is not.
Ya. I think there's a little bit of 'man to man' action going on here. I think Putin would rather do business with a sane competitor, rather than an inept who-knows-what, even one that he could walk all over. Nobody really likes dealing with drunks and crazy people.
You are one of the few people that has a clue about what is going on.
Thank you, that means a lot .... I try to keep up...
Yea. A drunk, crazy woman with nuclear weapons, who takes money from the Johnny jihad nations, would be a nightmare for everyone.
Hildabeast’s server prolly gave them the entrance point
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