Republican and Democratic Networks’ Computer Systems were hacked — Attackers also hacked Donald Trump’s election campaign staff!
The computer systems of Presidential candidate Donald Trump and other networks of Republican and Democratic parties were attacked by unknown attackers. In the attack, it is speculated that the email account of a member of Trump’s election campaign staff was attacked with malware.
This incident occurred in 2015 and in the aftermath, malicious emails were sent to other colleagues via the infected account. However, security experts are not yet clear whether the hackers were able to gain access to the computer systems dedicated to the Presidential campaign, according to Reuters.
Previously we learned that hackers exploited the Democratic National Committee’s (DNC) computer systems in 2015. DNC is the congressional fundraising committee of Hillary Clinton, the Democratic Presidential nominee meanwhile the second breach came last week when a hacker calling himself Guccifer 2.0 leaked private data of more than 200 Democratic Party Members on his blog.
According to US officials and security experts, Russian proxies or the government is responsible for the recent surge in attacks on the presidential campaign computer networks. In fact, some security experts and even Democrats have called out to Obama administration and publicly claimed that Russia is behind these attacks.
However, Kremlin officials have stated that these claims are Absurd. Nonetheless, there is anxiety in the White House over the probability of the involvement of a foreign government in obtaining critically important information related to US presidential election due to take place in November 2016.
Now, to counter such attacks, Trump has roped in CrowdStrike security firm for taking care of his campaign’s computer systems. This is the same firm that has been hired to protect the DNC systems. Moreover, another security firm was contacted for examining the software being used in both Trump and Clinton’s campaigns. The software is used to manage emails, electronic communications, and similar online tasks.
It must be noted that the technique and tools used to attack and hack Republican party networks are quite similar to the technique involved in the attack on DNC as well as in Clinton’s campaign. This is the reason why US officials believe that Russian military and/or Russian intelligence agencies or proxies are responsible for the hacks.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has shown consent to assist both political parties in securing the campaigns of the presidential nominees against the “constantly evolving threats.”
Usually, Donald Trump’s hotels are the prime target for hackers, however, this is not the first time when Donald Trump election campaign was targeted by hackers. Previously, a group calling itself Anonymous Conservative defaced 2016 Iowa Caucus website and left messages after ex-Alaska governor Sarah Palin endorsed Trump.