dnc
Latest
Russian hackers targeted Clinton's email before the elections
US intelligence agents are pretty sure the Russian government authorized the DNC hacks and leaked Hillary Clinton's emails. While the country continues to deny its involvement, security firm SecureWorks found evidence that it has been targeting Clinton even before the elections began. Apparently, a group of hackers (known by the names APT28, Sofacy and Fancy Bear) working for Russian military intelligence sent 19,315 malicious links to 6,730 people from March 2015 to May 2016. Their targets included Clinton, her campaign chairman John Podesta, her staff, known critics of the Russian government, members of the US military and diplomats around the world.
Trump adviser spoke with DNC hacker during the campaign
Roger Stone, an adviser to Donald Trump during his successful presidential campaign, exchanged private messages with Guccifer 2.0, the person (or group) that hacked and leaked documents from the Democratic National Committee in 2016. The DNC hack occurred in July and was followed by multiple other breaches of Democratic party systems. Stone and Guccifer 2.0 communicated via Twitter private messages in mid-August, according to The Washington Times. The messages were sent about two weeks after Stone published an article on Breitbart claiming Russia didn't hack the DNC -- Guccifer 2.0 did.
FBI has three probes looking into Russia's election hacking
It's no secret that the FBI has been investigating Russia's alleged bid to influence US elections through hacking, but it's now clear just how deep that investigation goes. Reuters tipsters understand that there are "at least" three FBI probes into the hacks, each of which focuses on a different aspect of the breaches targeting Democratic Party officials. A Pittsburgh field office wants to identify the people behind those intrusions, while a San Francisco office wants to identify the people behind "Guccifer 2.0," the persona credited with key leaks and frequently linked to the Russian government. A third investigation in Washington, DC is orchestrating a counterintelligence campaign based on intercepted foreign communications and tips from informants.
Trump's most senior staff use a private email server
Donald Trump's senior White House staff including Kellyanne Conway, Jared Kushner, Sean Spicer and Steve Bannon all use a private RNC email server, according to a Newsweek report published Wednesday. This is the same RNC email server that mysteriously disappeared 22 million messages during George W Bush's administration and the one that US intelligence services believe was compromised by the Russians at the same time as the DNC's, earlier this year.
'Guccifer 2.0' DNC leaker returns, as 'Shadow Brokers' exit
Throughout the presidential campaign last year, a hacker calling themselves "Guccifer 2.0" leaked DNC documents, before going dark just before the actual election. Now, after being tagged as a front for Russian government-directed hacking, the identity has returned, writing in much clearer English and taunting US intelligence. In a blog post, Guccifer 2.0 claims again to have no connection to Russia, and refutes assertions made by the DHS and FBI to the contrary.
FBI says DNC wouldn't give it direct access to hacked servers
The FBI has spent months trying to persuade people that Russia was behind the DNC hack, but we're now learning that it didn't get much help from the DNC itself. The Bureau tells Buzzfeed News that the Democrats' organization reportedly "rebuffed" multiple requests for physical access to the hacked servers, forcing investigators to depend on the findings of the third-party security firm CrowdStrike (which the DNC contacted after the hack). The FBI would have tackled the breach earlier if the DNC hadn't "inhibited" the investigation, according to its statement.
NBC News: US intelligence has info tying Putin to election hacking
Months after US intelligence officials said top Russian officials were involved with hacking the Democratic National Committee and other political groups, a new report claims president Vladimir Putin is "personally involved." NBC News did not specify what the evidence is, but said two unnamed senior officials have access to information showing Putin personally directed how the information would be used to affect the recent election.
Experts question if Trump servers shared info with Russian bank
A handful of computer scientists and DNS experts discovered that over the course of four months this year, a Trump Organization server irregularly pinged two servers belonging to the prominent Russian entity Alfa Bank, according to Slate. As former New Republic editor Franklin Foer reports, it is not clear what type of communication passed among the servers, whether emails or spam, but multiple experts agreed that the messages were sent in patterns consistent with human input. "The parties were communicating in a secretive fashion," DNS authority Paul Vixie told Slate. "The operative word is 'secretive.' This is more akin to what criminal syndicates do if they are putting together a project."
Top Russian officials authorized the DNC hack and others, US says
Russia directed the hack of the Democratic National Committee and other recent invasions of political organizations, according to the US Department of Homeland Security and Office of the Director of National Intelligence on Election Security. The collective US Intelligence Community says that the attacks were intended to disrupt the on-going US presidential election, and given the scope of the intrusions, only the most senior Russian officials could have authorized them.
Latest 'Guccifer 2.0' leak drops Tim Kaine's phone number
The hacker that pillaged the DNC's computers known as "Guccifer 2.0" has released another collection of documents at a cybersecurity conference in London. While it doesn't contain private emails this time around, it has what appears to be several members' personal info, including the cellphone number of vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine. The collection also includes the amounts donated by the party's donors, along with their phone numbers and addresses. Take note, though, that this latest cache was uploaded on a file-sharing service instead of on Guccifer 2.0's website or on Wikileaks, and the documents haven't been verified yet. Wikileaks' Twitter account shared the link where you can download the 670MB file, though, along with its password.
Putin doesn't think it's important who hacked the DNC
Just before the Democratic National Convention kicked off in late July, Wikileaks published a trove of emails and other data that it acquired following a hack on the Democratic National Committee. The FBI started investigating, and very quickly it identified Russia as the likely source of the hackers. Now, Russian president Vladimir Putin is speaking out, denying his country's involvement in the incident -- but with some rather strange language.
Democrats want FBI to investigate any Trump link to cyberattacks
You may have been laughing when Donald Trump responded to word of possible Russian involvement in DNC hacks by joking that the country should hack Hillary Clinton's email server, but some House Democrats are taking it very seriously. Representatives John Conyers, Elijah Cummings, Eliot Engel and Bennie Thompson have sent a letter asking the FBI to investigate the possibility of a link between Trump officials and the attacks. They claim it's vital to know whether or not Trump and his staff "directly caused or indirectly motivated" the hacks -- they could be helping Russia interfere with the election, if you believe the letter.
Reuters: Congressional leaders were briefed on DNC hack last year
As new details emerge on the hacks of the Democratic Party, we've yet to learn the scope of the damage. Yesterday, Bloomberg reported the people behind the DNC hack had much larger aspirations that included NATO and top security officials. Reuters now reports that Congressional leaders were briefed on Russian cyberattacks that targeted the Democrats last year. Sources tell the news outlet that due to the top secret nature of the information, those officials weren't able to inform the targets about the issue. The FBI confirmed publicly that it was looking into Russia's involvement in the ordeal in late July after Wikileaks published thousands of DNC emails.
Experts believe DNC hackers are behind a larger plot
Although it's not the hack Donald Trump called for, security experts believe the same Russian hacking group allegedly responsible for leaking 20,000 Democratic party emails to WikiLeaks is also behind another attack that hints at an even larger Russian plot to influence American politics. In the weeks before WikiLeaks posted those materials, another cache of emails was posted on a site called DCLeaks.com targeting a top NATO general, former high-ranking intelligence officials and billionaire George Soros' progressive philanthropy called the Open Society Foundation.
DNC executives leave following email hack
The fallout from the Democratic National Committee email hack (and the subsequent posting by Wikileaks) is extending well beyond the resignation of Committee chairman Debbie Wasserman Schultz in July. The DNC has revealed that CEO Amy Dacey (above), CFO Brad Marshall and communications director Luis Miranda are resigning in the wake of the breach. The leaked emails showed all three playing favorites during the primaries, disparaging Bernie Sanders and showing a preference for eventual nominee Hillary Clinton.
Recommended Reading: Nintendo's NX sounds weird and that's okay
NX is different, and different is Nintendo's best option Oli Welsh, Eurogamer Based on the rumors so far, Nintendo's upcoming NX handheld console will be... unique. This piece from Eurogamer, a site that's been the source of some of the details, takes a look at why switching things up a bit may be the company's best bet. A touchscreen device with detachable controllers may sound strange, but if the reports are true, "we should savor and celebrate NX's weirdness" like Eurogamer explains here.
Democrats at the DNC were divided on last week's email hack
On Wednesday, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump stared directly into a camera during a press briefing and said: "Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 [Hillary Clinton] emails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press." This remark came after thousands of hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee were released by Wikileaks; the FBI has indicated it believes Russia was behind the attack. Trump has since said he was being "sarcastic" and his campaign manager denied claims that the candidate was calling for Russia to hack anyone. But that didn't stop Democrats from denouncing his language in the strongest of terms. "This has to be the first time that a major presidential candidate has actively encouraged a foreign power to conduct espionage against his political opponent," said Hillary Clinton's campaign. (What the Clinton campaign didn't mention is that this sort of maneuvering isn't entirely unheard of, even within the Democratic party.)
Reuters: FBI is investigating another Democratic Party hack
In addition to the hack of the Democratic National Convention, the FBI is investigating a second breach at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC). Reuters reports that a "previously unreported incident" at the DCCC may have intended to nab donor information rather than to take money, according to sources. At this point, it's unclear if any information was actually stolen or what details may have been accessed. When a donation is made though, the person typically submits their name, email address and credit card info. It also hasn't been determined if any stolen details were used to access systems and sensitive information elsewhere.
Democrats ask for immediate action to combat climate change
The Democrats and Republicans differ on many fronts, but the contrast is particularly striking when it comes to climate change. The Republican party platform dismisses it and its presidential candidate calls it a "hoax." But on Monday night as the 2016 Democratic National Convention began, multiple speakers including Senators Bernie Sanders (D, VT) and Elizabeth Warren (D, MA) touched on the need to directly address the issue. Similarly, the party's 2016 platform document spends many pages touching upon climate change, calling it an "urgent threat and a defining challenge of our time.
Trump wants Russia to hack the US government (updated)
Late last week, thousands of emails from the Democratic National Committee were released by WikiLeaks, the contents of which have caused plenty of controversy at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia this week. The FBI is investigating and Russia is believed to be a prime suspect in the hack that led to these emails getting leaked. Naturally, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has had plenty to say about the hack and some of the messages themselves. But what he said today is yet another level of crazy from an already audacious candidate. "Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing," Trump said today, reports The New York Times. "I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press." By "find," it's pretty clear Trump was advocating for another hack to uncover more emails, specifically those from Hillary Clinton's private email server when she was Secretary of State. Regardless of whether those emails were on a private server or not, hacking emails sent while she was Secretary of State would amount to hacking the US government. The emails in question were deemed personal and private and deleted by Clinton.
