The hacker Guccifer 2.0 posted phone numbers, email addresses and passwords for almost 200 sitting and former Democratic lawmakers on Friday, including current members of intelligence and armed services committees.
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Pelosi also advised House Democrats affected to change their phone numbers, following her lead.
Federal investigators had tried to warn the DNC months before, sources told CNN, but by the time the suspected Russian hackers were kicked out of the systems damage had been done: almost 20,000 emails between a handful of DNC officials were dumped on the web by Wikileaks as the Democratic National Convention was kicking off.
Guccifer 2.0 also posted some emails hacked from Republican servers, although the documents appear to be innocuous recountings of campaign trivia rather than containing any explosive revelations.
The party behind the Democrats’ hackings, which officials have said could be Russian hackers, said the DCCC hacking was “even easier than in the case of the DNC breach”. Obama, who noted outside experts have blamed Russia for the leak, suggested Russian President Vladimir Putin may have reason to facilitate the attack.
The cyberattacks have raised concerns among US national security officials that outside groups or governments could be trying to interfere in the presidential election.
The FBI, which is investigating, hasn’t publicly attributed the attack to Russian Federation.
However it is one of many tech companies, including Facebook and Apple, who according to a recent Observer op-ed are actively colluding in order to prevent a Trump presidency. The hacker going by “Guccifer 2.0” claimed credit.
“This is the first I’ve heard of it, obviously”, he said Friday evening. The registrant for the fake DCCC site was linked to Web domains used by “Fancy Bear”.
And WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange confirmed that his organization isn’t out of material on Hillary Clinton.
The cellphone numbers of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California and Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer of Maryland were among the information posted. “Upon landing, I have received scores of mostly obscene and sick calls, voicemails and text messages”, she wrote.
He advised aides and lawmakers to change their passwords on all accounts and possibly open new email accounts.
There is also an ongoing threat assessment by Capitol Police and the Sergeant-at-Arms. The fallout forced former Democratic Party chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz to announce her resignation just before the party’s national convention last month.
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In a statement, the House committee said it was investigating the authenticity of the documents and was working with federal law enforcement officials.
