This article is more than 1 year old

Dem-owned-crats: Now its congressional committee is hacked

And Hillary's campaign staff pwned, too

Updated The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee – which represents Democrats in the US House of Representatives – has been hacked, and miscreants have made off with a massive amount of data.

The DCCC confirmed its computer systems were infiltrated and ransacked in a manner similar to the high-profile intrusion at the Democratic party that resulted in the leaking of thousands of emails and personal data.

The congressional committee is the branch of the Democratic Party that handles fundraising efforts for members serving in the House. A breach of the group could result in the loss of details and party strategy on local campaigns around the country.

The DCCC said in a statement to The Register: "The DCCC can confirm that we have been the target of a cybersecurity incident. Upon discovering the issue, we immediately took action and engaged with CrowdStrike, a leading forensic investigator, to assist us in addressing this incident. The investigation is ongoing.

"Based on the information we have to date, we've been advised by investigators that this is similar to other recent incidents, including the DNC breach. The DCCC takes this matter very seriously.

"With the assistance of leading experts we have taken and are continuing to take steps to enhance the security of our network in the face of these recent events. We are cooperating with federal law enforcement with respect to their ongoing investigation."

The nature of the attacks suggests they were performed by the same group that lifted data from the DNC. The contents of that data dump were passed on to WikiLeaks, who in turn made all of the information public.

While the source of the DCCC breaches has not been made public, widespread belief among many in the security community is that the attacks are likely the work of a Russian-based group with political motives, though others have challenged that notion.

Thus far, the details of what was stolen from the DCCC have not been released. The committee is reportedly working with the FBI on an investigation into the attack. ®

Updated to add

Looks like Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign team has been hacked, too, quite likely by the same people who infiltrated the DNC and DCCC.

More about

TIP US OFF

Send us news


Other stories you might like