According to the Boston Globe, the main targets of the hack appear to have been the private accounts of Clinton campaign officials, Democratic party officials, and Democratic party organizations.
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FBI agents have begun notifying Democratic staff whose personal accounts were breached by the Russians as the agency widens its investigation.
The hackers were able to gain access to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the DNC, and even tapped into a DNC voter analytics program that was used by Clinton’s campaign, officials said initially.
The Times says the FBI is expanding its investigation as a result, noting that the hacking primarily targeted Democratic Party insiders and Hillary Clinton’s campaign officials.
Hillary Clinton’s personal email sever does not appear to have been hacked, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has said, although its possible that an intruder did get into the system but didn’t leave a trace.
According to New York Times’ sources, Democratic party officials are continuing to brace for the possibility that another batch of DNC material will be released in correlation with the November presidential election. The leak forced the resignation of former DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz because of emails suggesting the party favored Hillary Clinton over Sen.
There’s no evidence that the hackers also went after Donald Trump’s campaign with similar attacks.
The extension of the hack’s scope beyond the DNC and the House Democratic committee added a troubling new element to the case, the staff member said.
Officials are still trying to figure out a motive.
Democrats and Republicans alike were highly critical of remarks Trump made three weeks ago, when he appeared to encourage the Russians to hack Clinton and release their findings. But in June, FBI Director James Comey said some had tried and that any successful hackers were probably far too skilled to leave evidence of their intrusion behind. Law enforcement officials said he had the Russians in mind. Officials have acknowledged that the e-mails were obtained via a Russian cyberattack. For one thing, the hackers appear to have gotten into the private accounts of staffers, not just their official ones.
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Whether coincidental or targeted, the effect of the DNC hack has already had a profound influence on Democratic operations. They have also been shoring up their cybersecurity defenses to guard against another attack.
