The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee briefed House Democrats by phone Saturday evening on a cybersecurity attack that led to a breach of some of their personal information – much of which has been publicly posted online.
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She said she was changing her phone number and urged other House Democrats to do the same.
The initial release of hacked documents from the DNC, and the subsequent release of almost 20,000 DNC emails and thousands of attachments by Wikileaks, showed signs that some Democratic Party officials did not like Bernie Sanders and discussed ways to undermine his campaign.
The files were posted to a blog used by the hacker, which at least one cybersecurity firm has labelled an operation of Russian security services.
“Guccifer 2.0” also invited reporters to contact him via Twitter direct message: “Dear journalists, you may send me a DM if you’re interested in exclusive materials from the DCCC, which I have plenty of”.
The hacker claiming responsibility for the breach – working under the pseudonym Guccifer 2.0, which US intelligence officials believe is an alias for a Russian intelligence hacker – appeared eager to taunt Democrats in releasing the latest files.
If you ever wanted to reach out and touch a Democratic Congressperson directly, you may have just gotten your chance.
ABC News has reached out to several Democratic lawmakers’ offices to further verify the accuracy of reports of the leak.
Democrats and U.S. intelligence officials have linked Guccifer 2.0 to Russian Federation, but the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which is investigating, has still not blamed Moscow.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton waves as she finishes a speech on the economy after touring Futuramic Tool & Engineering, in Warren, Mich., Thursday, Aug. 11, 2016. That’s where he posted a spreadsheet containing the information of 193 former and current democratic house members.
Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff of California, ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, said in a statement Friday night that releasing private information “is never acceptable”. The official said investigators believe they now have a sense of how wide the attack reached.
“This is a break-in”, she said.
US intelligence officials said they are virtually certain that Russian intelligence officials were behind the attack.
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“I don’t have any concern about any information coming out from the DCCC”, she said. “That foreign actors may be trying to influence our election – let alone a powerful adversary – should concern all Americans of any party”.
