She advised members whose information was released to change their phone numbers as well – and in the interim not to allow their children or family members to answer their phones or read their text messages.
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The hacker said the USA presidential elections “are becoming a farce”, citing the earlier breach of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) which revealed that lawmakers may have been partial to Hillary Clinton in the primaries, and, according to Guccifer, shows that “everything is being settled behind the scenes”.
A hacker who has taken credit for two breaches of U.S. Democratic Party organizations released email addresses, phone numbers, and other personal information of almost 200 lawmakers Friday.
The hack of the DCCC – or Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee – refers to what happened last month during the Democratic National Convention. Upon landing, I have received scores of mostly obscene and sick phone calls, voicemails, and text messages.
This leak isn’t as embarrassing as the Democratic National Committee documents WikiLeaks released last month.
“This is a sad course of events, not only for us, but more importantly for our country”, said Pelosi, who earlier in the week blamed Russian Federation for the cyber attack and called it an “electronic Watergate” akin to the 1972 burglary at Democratic Party headquarters that ultimately brought down Republican President Richard Nixon. Both incidents bore similar hallmarks, with the Federal Bureau of Investigation stating that operatives from Russian Federation may have been behind the attacks.
Trump has rejected the allegation, insisting Democrats were trying to “deflect the horror and stupidity” of the leak.
Two U.S. cybersecurity firms have said their analysis of computer breaches at the DCCC showed detailed evidence that the intrusions were likely linked to Russian hackers. That hacking group, known as “Fancy Bear”, was previously connected to the cyberbreach at the Democratic National Committee.
Both firms, Fidelis Cybersecurity and ThreatConnect, said the hackers established a fake Internet DCCC donation site.
“On a personal note, I was in the air flying from Florida to California when the news broke”.
Wikileaks, which itself sparked a firestorm a few weeks ago by publishing a massive trove of emails from the DNC, which resulted in the resignations of the organisation’s top brass-was among the first to notice Guccifer’s account had been suspended, a CNBC report said. She said the Capitol Police and the House sergeant-at-arms are also conducting an ongoing threat assessment.
“This is a sad course of events, not only for us, but more importantly for our country”, Pelosi wrote to her colleagues.
According to PBS, Pelosi sent a letter to fellow House Democrats, urging them to change their numbers.
Rep. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., the DCCC chairman, was holding a conference call with lawmakers on Saturday evening along with cybersecurity experts who have been investigating and responding to the breach.
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The 20,000 emails, some of which featured DNC officials disparaging presidential candidate Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, enraged many of his supporters, who had claimed the party was tipping the scales in favor of Clinton. “And when they do, I hope the administration will disclose who is attempting to interfere with the American political process, and levy strong consequences against those responsible”.
