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FBI Investigating Possible Hack of Democratic Party Staffer Cell Phones (cnn.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the can-I-have-your-number dept.

In what may be part of the original Democratic National Committee hack, the FBI is currently investigating a possible hack involving the cell phones of a small number of Democratic Party staffers. CNN reports: The development comes on the same day Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson told lawmakers that 18 states have asked for help in warding off cyberattacks on their electronic voting systems. Law enforcement officials have reached out to the staffers individually about "imaging" their phones to search for evidence of hacking, such as malware. Investigators are still probing whether this attempted hack is part of the original breach of Democratic National Committee emails -- which is widely thought to be the work of the Russian government -- or a new hacking attempt. "Our struggle with the Russian hackers that we announced in June is ongoing -- as we knew it would be -- and we are choosing not to provide general updates unless personal data or other sensitive information has been accessed or stolen," interim DNC Chairwoman Donna Brazile told CNN. Cybersecurity was a major theme at the debate last night between Republican nominee Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. While Clinton blamed the Russians for the "election-related cyberintrusions," Trump said "It could be Russia, but it could also be China. It could also be lots of other people. It could also be somebody sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds." We will update this story as it develops.

4 of 107 comments (clear)

  1. no "Russian Hackers", that's B.S. by iggymanz · · Score: 1, Interesting

    a couple of our own U.S. intelligence services are angry about certain issues, it is them not "Russian Hackers" bothering Obama admin and Hillary campaign.

    The Russians, pffffffttt.

    1. Re:no "Russian Hackers", that's B.S. by alvinrod · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Makes a certain amount of sense that they would favor Trump, if only because he's far more likely to get into bed with them than Clinton, but they could be going after the Democrats out of spite for opposing them in Ukraine/Syria. You have to wonder how much they have, because as much as been leaked so far, it hasn't amounted to anything, so either they've used up everything and are trying to find more or they're just waiting for the right moment before dropping it all so that there's no possible way for the Democrats to respond in time.

  2. Electronic Voting Systems by Shane_Optima · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The development comes on the same day Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson told lawmakers that 18 states have asked for help in warding off cyberattacks on their electronic voting systems.

    This is one of those phrases that should result in people instantly being fired but, for some reason, never does.

    How long ago did the first Diebold issues come out? And this is still a thing?

    I'm almost terrified to ask but these "cyber" attacks they're worried... that wouldn't be a reference to internet based attacks, would it? Did some psychopath finally decide that that best way to fix electronic voting machines was to connect them to the internet in any setup that didn't involve an air gap?

  3. Re:Certainly the work of heroic Russian hackers . by nomadic · · Score: 3, Interesting

    He may have been asked, but I would not be surprised if he refused. Snowden seems to be earnest. Assange, on the other hand, is clearly a spineless Russian tool.