Category Archives: DCCC

Monday, July 16: Dtex, Insider Threat News: Privileged User Dents Apple Self-Driving Car Program; DOJ Says Russia Hacked Clinton Campaign, Issues Indictments Against Spies

Posted on by

Last week, Apple found out it had an insider threat active in its ranks. It was the type of insider that Dtex and the industry commonly refers to as a “leaver.” In this case, the leaver also happened to be a privileged user. A leaver is someone w… Continue reading Monday, July 16: Dtex, Insider Threat News: Privileged User Dents Apple Self-Driving Car Program; DOJ Says Russia Hacked Clinton Campaign, Issues Indictments Against Spies→

Justice Department charges 12 Russian intel officers in hack of DNC

Posted on by

The Department of Justice has charged 12 Russian military intelligence officers for allegedly hacking into the Democratic National Committee (DNC), the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), an unnamed U.S. election technology company and individuals affiliated with Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign. The conspirators were also allegedly behind two websites that facilitated the release of hacked material, named DCLeaks.com and Guccifer 2.0. The Guccifer 2.0 blog was also tied to a social media account that was known to directly communicate with journalists, political consultants and, according to the indictment, at least one U.S. lawmaker. Friday’s announcement comes three days before President Donald Trump sits down with Russian President Vladimir Putin for diplomatic talks on a range of issues, including the Syrian conflict, the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the threat of future election meddling. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said at a press conference Friday that he had briefed Trump on the matter […]

The post Justice Department charges 12 Russian intel officers in hack of DNC appeared first on Cyberscoop.

Continue reading Justice Department charges 12 Russian intel officers in hack of DNC→

Two Democratic campaigns hit with DDoS attacks in recent months

Posted on by

Hackers have launched distributed denial-of-service attacks against at least two municipal-level Democratic campaigns in 2018, according to two people familiar with the matter. These incidents, which occurred as the campaigns were focused on primary elections, were publicly unknown prior to this report. The malicious cyber-activity did not appear random, sources told CyberScoop. The attacks hit specific campaign websites at important moments, including during online fundraising periods. In another case, a website was hit while a candidate was receiving good publicity after a public speaking event. The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss privately held information, say that news of the incidents has already reached the Democrats’ largest campaigning bodies, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC). Sources said they were told about the attacks by campaign officials and not cybersecurity experts, leaving a gap in their understanding of the events. Raffi Krikorian, the […]

The post Two Democratic campaigns hit with DDoS attacks in recent months appeared first on Cyberscoop.

Continue reading Two Democratic campaigns hit with DDoS attacks in recent months→

Democrats and Republicans split over using hacked material in campaigns

Posted on by

Another Democrat-Republican feud is showing that when it comes to politically charged hacking, politics may not stop at the water’s edge. The divide is focused on whether political parties should be allowed to use insider information that’s provided by hackers; similar to what occurred at the state level in 2016. Last week, a Democratic lawmaker on the House Intelligence Committee introduced a bill that would punish federal candidates if they fail to notify the FBI whenever a suspected hacking group offers them political dirt. On Thursday, Rep. Eric Swalwell introduced the “Duty to Report Act.” The proposed law would make it a crime for campaign staffers to not tip the government off to certain suspected hacking activities. Swalwell unveiled the bill on the same week as the two-year anniversary of the now infamous Trump Tower meeting, where Donald Trump Jr. met with a Russian lawyer who ambiguously offered damaging political […]

The post Democrats and Republicans split over using hacked material in campaigns appeared first on Cyberscoop.

Continue reading Democrats and Republicans split over using hacked material in campaigns→

How the Democrats plan to stop hackers from breaching 2018 campaigns

Posted on by

“Never again,” says Aaron Trujillo, chief of staff for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “That’s the message.” Roughly one year ago, the DCCC — the campaign arm for Democrats in the House of Representatives — revealed that its systems were breached by hackers. The cyberattacks, as it was later reported, were connected to a broader operation that included multiple computer intrusions into the Democratic National Committee, the party’s national organization. Closer to Election Day, it was revealed that there were links between the DCCC breach incident and the GRU, Russia’s premier military intelligence agency. Russian government officials quickly denied that the Kremlin was involved in either incident. The breach marked the beginning of a larger issue. In August 2016, less than one month after the DCCC hack had been publicly disclosed, a blog written under the moniker of  “Guccifer 2.0” began publishing thousands of sensitive, internal DCCC documents. They included […]

The post How the Democrats plan to stop hackers from breaching 2018 campaigns appeared first on Cyberscoop.

Continue reading How the Democrats plan to stop hackers from breaching 2018 campaigns→