begin quote from:
Clinton campaign hacked
Feds probing Clinton campaign hacking
Story highlights
- The political arm for House Democrats said they were the target of hackers
- Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee said the breach was similar to the one at the DNC
(CNN)The
FBI and Justice Department are investigating a computer hack of Hillary
Clinton's presidential campaign in addition to its examination of
intrusions of other Democratic Party organizations, two law enforcement
officials said Friday.
The campaign said in a statement that its internal systems were not compromised.
"An
analytics data program maintained by the DNC, and used by our campaign
and a number of other entities, was accessed as part of the DNC hack,"
said Clinton campaign spokesman Nick Merrill. "Our campaign computer
system has been under review by outside cyber security experts. To date,
they have found no evidence that our internal systems have been
compromised."
The intrusion was
discovered by private investigators hired by the campaign, according to
one of the law enforcement officials. The private investigators believe
it is similar to the Democratic National Committee hack, but federal
investigators are still working to determine the scope and nature of the
intrusion, the official explained.
The
campaign intrusion is the latest in a series of Democratic party
organizations who have had system breaches that are being investigated
-- including the DNC and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee
(DCCC).
The
Justice Department's national security division, which was already
investigating the DNC intrusion, is handling the investigation because
of the believed similarities, one of the officials explained.
There
is strong evidence indicating the cyber intrusion of the DNC was the
work of hackers working on behalf of Russian intelligence, US officials
said this week.
The alleged intrusion was first reported by Reuters.
A
person familiar with the Clinton campaign program described it as
essentially a dynamic voter database -- with voter participation, voter
contact information and voter files that all campaign organizations use.
It's a list -- but a dynamic one with key voter data.
A
Clinton aide said the hackers had access to the analytics program's
server for approximately five days. The analytics data program is among
many systems accessed to conduct voter analysis. It does not include
social security numbers or credit card numbers.
The
aide noted further that according to the campaign's outside cyber
security expert, the hack of this analytics data program could not have
resulted in access to Clinton campaign internal emails, voicemails,
computers or other internal communications and documents. Those are
completely independent systems.
The
DCCC, which is the political arm for House Democrats, confirmed Friday
it had been the subject of a cyberhack, raising the possibility that
alleged Russian hackers might have breached a much broader swath of
Democratic records than originally thought.
The
revelation comes just days after the leak of thousands of Democratic
National Committee emails -- US officials allege Russian hackers --
prompted major turmoil within the party, causing the abrupt resignation
of its chairwoman, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
On
Friday afternoon, Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, the ranking
Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee, said Russians look to be
the culprits, pointing to comments by Director of National Intelligence
James Clapper the prior day.
"As
Clapper said last night, all the evidence isn't in yet, but it's
certainly the way it looks," she told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on "The
Situation Room."
A spokeswoman for
the DCCC said Friday that the committee has been advised by
investigators that the hack is similar to the DNC breach.
"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," Meredith Kelly, spokeswoman for the DCCC,
said in a statement. "The investigation is ongoing."
Beyond
the DNC cyber intrusion, hackers believed to work for Russian
intelligence agencies have breached numerous other entities linked to
Democratic Party politics, including private companies, a federal law
enforcement official said.
The
series of cyber breaches over the past 18 months have targeted political
entities that support Democrats, the official said.
"If they wanted to get into a system, they got in," the official said.
The
FBI's chief of cyber investigations James Trainor told CNN in an
interview recently that hackers have targeted political party entities
and think tanks in Washington.
The official said there is a long list of intrusions that the FBI and other agencies are investigating.
Republican Party organizations so far haven't reported finding any intrusions, the official said.
The
Russians have denied any involvement with the DNC hack, but federal
investigators suspect hackers in the country have accessed the
information. And Democrats believe they have been leaked in the middle
of a contentious election year to help Donald Trump.
"The
DCCC takes this matter very seriously," Kelly said. "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 the federal law enforcement with
respect to their ongoing investigation."
Hacking
has become a major flashpoint in the presidential race. Revelations
about targeting the Clinton campaign come as both nominees are set to
begin receiving national security briefings.
Asked
if she was ok with Republican nominee Donald Trump receiving such
information, Feinstein said, "Well, it will be interesting to see if he
can keep a secret."
Trump earlier
in the week drew criticism for appearing to suggest that Russia should
use espionage to find Hillary Clinton's deleted emails.
The GOP nominee later tried to walk back the comments.
"Of
course I'm being sarcastic," Trump said in a Fox News interview that
aired Thursday, after his comments at a news conference in Florida
sparked a national furor and offered ammunition for Democrats who claim
he's not fit to be president.
This story is being updated as information develops.
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