WASHINGTON — Russian hackers penetrated the Democratic National Committee’s computer network, stealing a raft of information including opposition research on presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump, officials confirmed Tuesday.
“The security of our system is critical to our operation and to the confidence of the campaigns and state parties we work with,” said Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., the DNC chairwoman. “When we discovered the intrusion, we treated this like the serious incident it is and reached out to CrowdStrike immediately. Our team moved as quickly as possible to kick out the intruders and secure our network.”
CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity firm, also confirmed the hack Tuesday, saying that its origins pointed to the Russian government.
Shawn Henry, the firm’s president and a former FBI cyber chief, told MSNBC the intrusion was traced with “a high degree of confidence” to the Russian government.
“In the course of this working very closely with the IT staff of the DNC, we were able to identify with a very high degree of confidence a group that we have attributed back to the Russian government targeting that DNC network.
The development was first reported by The Washington Post.
Henry said the firm was contracted by the DNC in late April and deployed security technology that showed “attackers moving in the network” as the investigation unfolded.
In an unusual account of the incident provided on live television, Henry said the subsequent inquiry determined that the initial breach had occurred months before.
“They had been in since last summer,” Henry said of the attackers, adding that the FBI also had been involved in the cyber review.
In addition to the committee’s research into Trump and other work, Henry said the attackers had access to the DNC’s email accounts and chat logs.
“In the course of this, working very closely with the IT staff of the DNC, we were able to identify with a very high degree of confidence a group that we have attributed back to the Russian government targeting that DNC network,” Henry said.
