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DNC Says Reported Hack Attempt Was a False Alarm (wsj.com)

Posted by msmash on from the damn-you,-red-team dept.

furry_wookie writes: A suspected attempt to hack into the Democratic National Committee's voter database was actually a cybersecurity test [Editor's note: the originally submitted article might be paywalled; an alternative source], the organization said. The DNC, which was [allegedly] hacked by Russian intelligence officers during the 2016 presidential campaign, said Tuesday it had contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigation after being alerted to an apparent phishing scheme by the computer security firm Lookout Inc., which uncovered a replica of the login page to the DNC's Votebuilder database during an online scan. In a statement early Wednesday, Bob Lord, the DNC's chief information security officer, said the DNC and its partners who reported the site 'now believe it was built by a third party as part of a simulated phishing test.'

9 of 115 comments (clear)

  1. Ooh! We blocked one! Never mind... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    These guys are pathetic. Absurd incompetence on an epic scale.

    But; 'Give us control.We know how to fix the country.'

    More shit show ahead folks.

    1. Re:Ooh! We blocked one! Never mind... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

      I wouldn't trust the democratic party to do anything but increase crime and welfare.

    2. Re:Ooh! We blocked one! Never mind... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

      They did the right thing, which is to report it.

      The GOP disavows, hides, and stay silent.

      DNC: The sky is falling! The sky is falling and we blocked it with our fancy umbrella. Oops, no. It's just raining.
      AC: They did the right thing reporting it. The other side just tries to hide the important information like this.

      You lefties are a hoot. It's like your brains are wired for 2+2=5.

    3. Re:Ooh! We blocked one! Never mind... by arbiter1 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      If liberals really go down the road using only their hate for him as the justification for his removal then just like Nuclear option they put in place it will turn out to haunt them in the future

  2. How about some context here? by onyxruby · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Saying someone was trying to hack the DNC doesn't mean anything. Any organization of a certain size or reputation deals with hack attempts 24/7/365. Many organizations have their own SOC just to deal with the non stop attempts. Smaller organizations will often outsource their SOC to a specialist company when they don't have the resources.

    Low level hack attempts are a bit like CMB. It's everywhere you look, in any direction you look, it never ever stops and quickly becomes background noise.

  3. Re:They finally learned... by mi · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You can't say the DNC is technologically inferior if their competition is both the US AND Russian governments

    in 2016, DNC was the US government. And they failed anyway...

    --
    In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
  4. Surprising by cyberchondriac · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I'm a little pleasantly surprised they came clean and didn't just continue to run with it, to stir up more "ruhssian treason" sentiment.
    OTOH however, they also know that the first accusation that goes out gets repeated and retweeted the most, and relatively fewer people pay attention to retractions or corrections, most particularly if those don't align with their political confirmation bias. In many people's perspective, this will continue to be yet another russian "hack" of the DNC.

    --

    Look back up at my post, now look back down, you're on the Internet. Now look back up. I'm a signature.
  5. Re:They finally learned... by mi · · Score: 3, Insightful

    There are three branches to the government, and none of them were exclusive to DNC.

    Not "exclusive". But certainly run by the Democrats — as is normal for when the Executive branch is headed by a Democrat, of course.

    Even if you mistake DNC for the Democratic Party

    Distinction without meaningful difference to the topic at hand.

    it's patently false

    Oh, it is quite true. It is no secret at all, that Obama's administration (ab)used its power to spy on Republicans and help the fellow Democrats. And not only was the NSA-collected data used that way, Comey's FBI was "doing its part" too.

    "Patently false" my tail...

    --
    In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
  6. Re:Russians by JackieBrown · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The CNN article on the original submission did a very good job linking this to the Russians while leaving themselves a way to act like they didn't

    https://edition.cnn.com/2018/0...