HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Democratic National Committee cyber attacks took place in 2015 and 2016, in which two groups of Russian
computer hackers A security hacker is someone who explores methods for breaching defenses and exploiting weaknesses in a computer system or network. Hackers may be motivated by a multitude of reasons, such as profit, protest, information gathering, challenge ...
infiltrated the
Democratic National Committee The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is the governing body of the United States Democratic Party. The committee coordinates strategy to support Democratic Party candidates throughout the country for local, state, and national office, as well a ...
(DNC)
computer network A computer network is a set of computers sharing resources located on or provided by network nodes. The computers use common communication protocols over digital interconnections to communicate with each other. These interconnections are ...
, leading to a
data breach A data breach is a security violation, in which sensitive, protected or confidential data is copied, transmitted, viewed, stolen or used by an individual unauthorized to do so. Other terms are unintentional information disclosure, data leak, info ...
.
Cybersecurity Computer security, cybersecurity (cyber security), or information technology security (IT security) is the protection of computer systems and networks from attack by malicious actors that may result in unauthorized information disclosure, the ...
experts, as well as the U.S. government, determined that the cyberespionage was the work of Russian intelligence agencies. Forensic evidence analyzed by several cybersecurity firms,
CrowdStrike CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. is an American cybersecurity technology company based in Austin, Texas. It provides cloud workload and endpoint security, threat intelligence, and cyberattack response services. The company has been involved in inves ...
, Fidelis, and
Mandiant Mandiant is an American cybersecurity firm and a subsidiary of Google. It rose to prominence in February 2013 when it released a report directly implicating China in cyber espionage. In December 2013, Mandiant was acquired by FireEye for $1 bil ...
(or
FireEye Trellix (formerly FireEye and McAfee Enterprise) is a privately held cybersecurity company founded in 2022. It has been involved in the detection and prevention of major cyber attacks. It provides hardware, software, and services to investigat ...
), strongly indicates that two
Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
intelligence agencies separately infiltrated the DNC computer systems. The American
cybersecurity Computer security, cybersecurity (cyber security), or information technology security (IT security) is the protection of computer systems and networks from attack by malicious actors that may result in unauthorized information disclosure, the ...
firm CrowdStrike, which removed the hacking programs, revealed a history of encounters with both groups and had already named them, calling one of them
Cozy Bear Cozy Bear, classified by the United States federal government as advanced persistent threat APT29, is a Russian hacker group believed to be associated with one or more intelligence agencies of Russia. The Dutch General Intelligence and Security ...
and the other Fancy Bear, names which are used in the media. On December 9, 2016, the
CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...
told U.S. legislators the
U.S. Intelligence Community The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
concluded Russia conducted the cyberattacks and other operations during the 2016 U.S. election to assist
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...
in winning the presidency. Multiple U.S. intelligence agencies concluded that specific individuals tied to the Russian government provided WikiLeaks with the stolen emails from the DNC, as well as stolen emails from
Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...
's campaign chairman, who was also the target of a cyberattack. These intelligence organizations additionally concluded Russia hacked the
Republican National Committee The Republican National Committee (RNC) is a U.S. political committee that assists the Republican Party of the United States. It is responsible for developing and promoting the Republican brand and political platform, as well as assisting in fu ...
(R.N.C.) as well as the D.N.C., but chose not to leak information obtained from the R.N.C.


Cyber attacks and responsibility

Cyber attacks that successfully penetrated the DNC computing system began in 2015. Attacks by "Cozy Bear" began in the summer of 2015. Attacks by "Fancy Bear" began in April 2016. It was after the "Fancy Bear" group began their activities that the compromised system became apparent. The groups were presumed to have been spying on communications, stealing
opposition research In politics, opposition research (also called oppo research) is the practice of collecting information on a political opponent or other adversary that can be used to discredit or otherwise weaken them. The information can include biographical, le ...
on
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...
, as well as reading all
email Electronic mail (email or e-mail) is a method of exchanging messages ("mail") between people using electronic devices. Email was thus conceived as the electronic ( digital) version of, or counterpart to, mail, at a time when "mail" meant ...
and chats. Both were finally identified by CrowdStrike in May 2016. Both groups of intruders were successfully expelled from the DNC systems within hours after detection. These attacks are considered to be part of a group of recent attacks targeting U.S. government departments and several political organizations, including 2016 campaign organizations. On July 22, 2016, a person or entity going by the moniker "
Guccifer 2.0 "Guccifer 2.0" is a persona which claimed to be the hacker(s) who gained unauthorized access to the Democratic National Committee (DNC) computer network and then leaked its documents to the media, the website WikiLeaks, and a conference event. S ...
" claimed on a
WordPress WordPress (WP or WordPress.org) is a free and open-source content management system (CMS) written in hypertext preprocessor language and paired with a MySQL or MariaDB database with supported HTTPS. Features include a plugin architecture ...
-hosted blog to have been acting alone in hacking the DNC. He also claimed to send significant amounts of stolen electronic DNC documents to
WikiLeaks WikiLeaks () is an international Nonprofit organization, non-profit organisation that published news leaks and classified media provided by anonymous Source (journalism), sources. Julian Assange, an Australian Internet activism, Internet acti ...
. WikiLeaks has not revealed the source for their leaked emails. However,
cybersecurity Computer security, cybersecurity (cyber security), or information technology security (IT security) is the protection of computer systems and networks from attack by malicious actors that may result in unauthorized information disclosure, the ...
experts and firms, including
CrowdStrike CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. is an American cybersecurity technology company based in Austin, Texas. It provides cloud workload and endpoint security, threat intelligence, and cyberattack response services. The company has been involved in inves ...
,
Fidelis Cybersecurity Fidelis Cybersecurity is a cybersecurity company focused on threat detection, hunting, and targeted response of advanced threats and data breaches. Among its customers includes IBM, the United States Army and the United States Department of Comme ...
,
Mandiant Mandiant is an American cybersecurity firm and a subsidiary of Google. It rose to prominence in February 2013 when it released a report directly implicating China in cyber espionage. In December 2013, Mandiant was acquired by FireEye for $1 bil ...
, SecureWorks,
ThreatConnect ThreatConnect is a cyber-security firm based in Arlington, Virginia. They provide a Threat Intelligence Platform for companies to aggregate and act upon threat intelligence. History The firm was founded in 2011 as Cyber Squared Inc. by Adam Vinc ...
, and the editor for
Ars Technica ''Ars Technica'' is a website covering news and opinions in technology, science, politics, and society, created by Ken Fisher and Jon Stokes in 1998. It publishes news, reviews, and guides on issues such as computer hardware and software, sci ...
, have rejected the claims of "Guccifer 2.0" and have determined, on the basis of substantial evidence, that the cyberattacks were committed by two Russian state-sponsored groups (Cozy Bear and Fancy Bear). According to separate reports in ''The New York Times'' and ''The Washington Post'', U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded with "high confidence" that the Russian government was behind the theft of emails and documents from the DNC.Ellen Nakashima
Is there a Russian master plan to install Trump in the White House? Some intelligence officials are skeptical
''New York Times'' (July 27, 2016).
While the U.S. intelligence community has concluded that Russia was behind the cyberattack, intelligence officials told ''The Washington Post'' that they had "not reached a conclusion about who passed the emails to WikiLeaks" and so did not know "whether Russian officials directed the leak." A number of experts and cybersecurity analysts believe that "Guccifer 2.0" is probably a Russian government disinformation cover story to distract attention away from the DNC breach by the two Russian intelligence agencies. Note:
Dmitri Alperovitch Dmitri Mikhailovich Alperovitch (born 1980) is a Soviet-born American think-tank founder, investor, philanthropist, podcast host and former computer security industry executive. He is the chairman of Silverado Policy Accelerator, a geopolitics th ...
is a CrowdStrike co-founder, CTO, and cybersecurity expert.
Note: This news article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License President Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin had a discussion about
computer security Computer security, cybersecurity (cyber security), or information technology security (IT security) is the protection of computer systems and networks from attack by malicious actors that may result in unauthorized information disclosure, the ...
issues, which took place as a side segment during the then-ongoing G20 summit in China in September 2016. Obama said Russian hacking stopped after his warning to Putin. In a joint statement on October 7, 2016, the
United States Department of Homeland Security The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the Federal government of the United States, U.S. United States federal executive departments, federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the I ...
and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence stated that the US intelligence community is confident that the Russian government directed the breaches and the release of the obtained material in an attempt to "… interfere with the US election process."


Background

As is common among Russian intelligence services, both groups used similar hacking tools and strategies. It is believed that neither group was aware of the other. Although this is antithetical to American computer intelligence methods, for fear of undermining or defeating intelligence operations of the other, this has been common practice in the Russian intelligence community since 2004. This intrusion was part of several attacks attempting to access information from American political organizations, including the 2016 U.S. presidential campaigns. Both "Cozy Bear" and "Fancy Bear" are known adversaries, who have extensively engaged in political and economic espionage that benefits the
Russian Federation Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
government. Both are believed connected to the Russian intelligence services. Also, both access resources and demonstrate levels of proficiency matching nation-state capabilities. "Cozy Bear" has in the past year infiltrated unclassified computer systems of the
White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...
, the U.S. State Department, and the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff. According to
CrowdStrike CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. is an American cybersecurity technology company based in Austin, Texas. It provides cloud workload and endpoint security, threat intelligence, and cyberattack response services. The company has been involved in inves ...
, other targeted sectors include: Defense, Energy,
Mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic via ...
, Financial, Insurance, Legal, Manufacturing, Media,
Think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmenta ...
s, Pharmaceutical,
Research Research is "creativity, creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular att ...
and
Technology Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also mean the product of such an endeavor. The use of technology is widely prevalent in medicine, science, ...
industries as well as universities. "Cozy Bear" observed attacks have occurred in
Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territories vary depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean ...
, Brazil,
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
, Japan, Mexico,
New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
, South Korea,
Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
and
Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...
. "Fancy Bear" has been operating since the mid-2000s.
CrowdStrike CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. is an American cybersecurity technology company based in Austin, Texas. It provides cloud workload and endpoint security, threat intelligence, and cyberattack response services. The company has been involved in inves ...
reported targeting has included
Aerospace Aerospace is a term used to collectively refer to the atmosphere and outer space. Aerospace activity is very diverse, with a multitude of commercial, industrial and military applications. Aerospace engineering consists of aeronautics and astrona ...
, Defense, Energy, Government and the Media industries. "Fancy Bear" intrusions have occurred in
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
, Western Europe, Brazil,
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
, China,
Republic of Georgia A republic () is a "state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th c ...
,
Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
, Japan,
Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
and
South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
. Targeted defense ministries and military organizations parallel Russian Federation government interests. This may indicate affiliation with the
Main Intelligence Directorate Main Intelligence Directorate may refer to: * Main Directorate of Intelligence (Ukraine), the military intelligence service of Ukraine * GRU The Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, rus, Гла́ ...
(GRU, a Russian military intelligence service). Specifically, "Fancy Bear" has been linked to intrusions into the
German Bundestag German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...
and France's
TV5 Monde TV5Monde (), formerly known as TV5, is a French public television network, broadcasting several channels of French-language programming. It is an approved participant member of the European Broadcasting Union. The network is available acros ...
(television station) in April 2015. SecureWorks, a cybersecurity firm headquartered in the United States, concluded that from March 2015 to May 2016, the "Fancy Bear" target list included not merely the DNC, but tens of thousands of foes of Putin and the Kremlin in the United States, Ukraine, Russia, Georgia, and Syria. Only a handful of Republicans were targeted, however.


Hacking the DNC

On January 25, 2018
Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...
newspaper
de Volkskrant ''de Volkskrant'' (; ''The People's Paper'') is a Dutch daily morning newspaper. Founded in 1919, it has a nationwide circulation of about 250,000. Formerly a leading centre-left Catholic broadsheet, ''de Volkskrant'' today is a medium-sized c ...
and TV program
Nieuwsuur Nieuwsuur (''News Hour'') is a Dutch current affairs television program produced for the NPO by the government broadcasters NOS and NTR. It is broadcast daily between 9.30 pm and 10 pm (9.30-10 pm at weekends) on NPO 2. The programme pays part ...
reported that in 2014 the Dutch Intelligence agency
General Intelligence and Security Service The General Intelligence and Security Service ( nl, Algemene Inlichtingen- en Veiligheidsdienst, AIVD; ) is the intelligence and security agency of the Netherlands, tasked with domestic, foreign and signals intelligence and protecting national ...
(AIVD) successfully infiltrated the computers of
Cozy Bear Cozy Bear, classified by the United States federal government as advanced persistent threat APT29, is a Russian hacker group believed to be associated with one or more intelligence agencies of Russia. The Dutch General Intelligence and Security ...
and observed the hacking of the head office of the State Department and subsequently the White House and were the first to alert the
National Security Agency The National Security Agency (NSA) is a national-level intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collecti ...
about the cyber-intrusion. In early 2015, the NSA apprised the FBI and other agencies of the DNC intrusions which the Dutch had secretly detected and on August 15, 2015, the Washington field office first alerted DNC technical staff of the compromise of their systems. Much later, the lack of higher level communications between the political party and the government was seen by the former as an "unfathomable lapse" and it wasn't until April 2016 when legal authorizations to share sensitive technical data with the government finally apprised DNC leaders that their systems had been penetrated. Cozy Bear" had access to DNC systems since the summer of 2015; and "Fancy Bear", since April 2016. There was no evidence of collaboration or knowledge of the other's presence within the system. Rather, the "two Russian espionage groups compromised the same systems and engaged separately in the theft of identical credentials". "Cozy Bear" employed the "Sea Daddy" implant and an obfuscated
PowerShell PowerShell is a task automation and configuration management program from Microsoft, consisting of a command-line shell (computing), shell and the associated scripting language. Initially a Windows component only, known as Windows PowerShell, it ...
script as a backdoor, launching
malicious code Malware (a portmanteau for ''malicious software'') is any software intentionally designed to cause disruption to a computer, server, client, or computer network, leak private information, gain unauthorized access to information or systems, depr ...
at various times and in various DNC systems. "Fancy Bear" employed X Agent malware, which enabled distant command execution, transmissions of files and
keylogging Keystroke logging, often referred to as keylogging or keyboard capturing, is the action of recording (logging) the keys struck on a keyboard, typically covertly, so that a person using the keyboard is unaware that their actions are being monitored ...
, as well as the "X-Tunnel" malware. DNC leaders became aware of the compromise in April 2016. These attacks broadly reflect Russian government interest in the U.S. political system, as well as political leaders' policies, tendencies and proclivities while assessing possible beneficial outcomes. The attacks also broadly reflect Russian government interest in the strategies, policies, and practices of the U.S. Government. This also globally reflects foreign governments' interest in ascertaining information on Donald Trump as a new entry into U.S. political leadership roles, in contrast to information likely to have been garnered over the decades pertaining to the Clintons. The DNC commissioned the cybersecurity company
CrowdStrike CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. is an American cybersecurity technology company based in Austin, Texas. It provides cloud workload and endpoint security, threat intelligence, and cyberattack response services. The company has been involved in inves ...
to defeat the intrusions. Its chief technology officer,
Dmitri Alperovitch Dmitri Mikhailovich Alperovitch (born 1980) is a Soviet-born American think-tank founder, investor, philanthropist, podcast host and former computer security industry executive. He is the chairman of Silverado Policy Accelerator, a geopolitics th ...
, who is also a cybersecurity expert, stated: Other cybersecurity firms,
Fidelis Cybersecurity Fidelis Cybersecurity is a cybersecurity company focused on threat detection, hunting, and targeted response of advanced threats and data breaches. Among its customers includes IBM, the United States Army and the United States Department of Comme ...
and
FireEye Trellix (formerly FireEye and McAfee Enterprise) is a privately held cybersecurity company founded in 2022. It has been involved in the detection and prevention of major cyber attacks. It provides hardware, software, and services to investigat ...
, independently reviewed the malware and came to the same conclusion as
CrowdStrike CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. is an American cybersecurity technology company based in Austin, Texas. It provides cloud workload and endpoint security, threat intelligence, and cyberattack response services. The company has been involved in inves ...
—that expert Russian hacking groups were responsible for the breach. In November 2017, US authorities identified 6 Russian individuals who conducted the hack. Beginning in December 2016 the Russian government arrested Sergei Mikhailov, a high ranking government cyber-spy, Ruslan Stoyanov, a private sector cyber-security expert, Georgy Fomchenkov, a former government cyber-spy, and Dmitry Dokuchaev, a Mikhailov associate and charged them with aiding U.S. intelligence agencies which the New York Times associated with the DNC hacking.


Donor information

Although the DNC claimed that no personal, financial, or donor information was accessed, "Guccifer 2.0" leaked what he or they claimed were donor lists detailing DNC campaign contributions to
Gawker ''Gawker'' is an American blog founded by Nick Denton and Elizabeth Spiers and based in New York City focusing on celebrities and the media industry. According to SimilarWeb, the site had over 23 million visits per month as of 2015. Founded in ...
and
The Smoking Gun The Smoking Gun is a website that posts legal documents, arrest records, and police mugshots on a daily basis. The intent is to bring to the public light information that is somewhat obscure or unreported by more mainstream media sources. Most o ...
. However, this information has not been authenticated, and doubts remain about Guccifer 2.0's backstory.


Guccifer 2.0

In June 2016, a person or person(s) claimed to be the hacker who had hacked the DNC servers and then published the stolen documents online.Tal Kopan, "Guccifer 2.0" later also claimed to have leaked 20.000 emails to
WikiLeaks WikiLeaks () is an international Nonprofit organization, non-profit organisation that published news leaks and classified media provided by anonymous Source (journalism), sources. Julian Assange, an Australian Internet activism, Internet acti ...
.


U.S. intelligence conclusions

The
U.S. Intelligence Community The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
tasked resources debating why Putin chose summer 2016 to escalate active measures influencing U.S. politics.
Director of National Intelligence The director of national intelligence (DNI) is a senior, cabinet-level United States government official, required by the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 to serve as executive head of the United States Intelligence Commu ...
James R. Clapper James Robert Clapper Jr. (born March 14, 1941) is a retired lieutenant general in the United States Air Force and former Director of National Intelligence. Clapper has held several key positions within the United States Intelligence Community. H ...
said after the 2011–13 Russian protests that Putin's confidence in his viability as a politician was damaged, and Putin responded with the propaganda operation. Former
CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...
officer Patrick Skinner explained the goal was to spread uncertainty. U.S. Congressman
Adam Schiff Adam Bennett Schiff (born June 22, 1960) is an American lawyer, author, and politician who has served as a U.S. representative since 2001. A member of the Democratic Party, he has represented since 2013. Schiff's district (numbered as the 2 ...
, Ranking Member of the
House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence The United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI), also known as the House Intelligence Committee, is a committee of the United States House of Representatives, currently chaired by Adam Schiff. It is the primary committ ...
, commented on Putin's aims, and said U.S. intelligence agencies were concerned with Russian propaganda. Speaking about disinformation that appeared in
Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...
,
Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...
, the
Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...
, and
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
, Schiff said there was an increase of the same behavior in the U.S. Schiff concluded Russian propaganda operations would continue against the U.S. after the election. On December 9, 2016, the
CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...
told U.S. legislators the
U.S. Intelligence Community The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
concluded Russia conducted operations during the 2016 U.S. election to assist Donald Trump in winning the presidency. Multiple U.S intelligence agencies concluded people with specific individuals tied to the Russian government gave
WikiLeaks WikiLeaks () is an international Nonprofit organization, non-profit organisation that published news leaks and classified media provided by anonymous Source (journalism), sources. Julian Assange, an Australian Internet activism, Internet acti ...
hacked emails from the
Democratic National Committee The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is the governing body of the United States Democratic Party. The committee coordinates strategy to support Democratic Party candidates throughout the country for local, state, and national office, as well a ...
(D.N.C.) and additional sources such as
John Podesta John David Podesta Jr. (born January 8, 1949) is an American political consultant who has served as Senior Advisor to President Joe Biden for clean energy innovation and implementation since September 2022. Podesta previously served as White ...
, campaign chairman for
Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...
. These intelligence organizations additionally concluded Russia hacked the
Republican National Committee The Republican National Committee (RNC) is a U.S. political committee that assists the Republican Party of the United States. It is responsible for developing and promoting the Republican brand and political platform, as well as assisting in fu ...
(R.N.C.) as well as the D.N.C.—and chose not to leak information obtained from the R.N.C. The CIA said the foreign intelligence agents were Russian operatives previously known to the U.S. CIA officials told U.S. Senators it was "quite clear" Russia's intentions were to help Trump. Trump released a statement December 9, and disregarded the CIA conclusions.


FBI involvement

A senior law enforcement official told CNN: The FBI therefore had to rely on an assessment from
CrowdStrike CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. is an American cybersecurity technology company based in Austin, Texas. It provides cloud workload and endpoint security, threat intelligence, and cyberattack response services. The company has been involved in inves ...
instead, who were hired by the DNC to investigate the cyber attacks.


U.S. legislative response

Members of the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee traveled to Ukraine and Poland in 2016 and learned about Russian operations to influence their affairs. U.S. Senator
Angus King Angus Stanley King Jr. (born March 31, 1944) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the junior United States senator from Maine since 2013. A political independent since 1993, he previously served as the 72nd governor of Maine from 1995 ...
told the ''
Portland Press Herald The ''Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram'' is a morning daily newspaper with a website that serves southern Maine and is focused on the greater metropolitan area around Portland, Maine, in the United States. Founded in 1862, its roots e ...
'' that tactics used by Russia during the 2016 U.S. election were analogous to those used against other countries. On November 30, 2016, King joined a letter in which seven members of the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee asked President Obama to publicize more information from the intelligence community on Russia's role in the U.S. election. In an interview with CNN, King warned against ignoring the problem, saying it was a bipartisan issue. Representatives in the
U.S. Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is Bicameralism, bicameral, composed of a lower body, the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives, and an upper body, ...
took action to monitor the National security of the United States by advancing legislation to monitor propaganda. On November 30, 2016, legislators approved a measure within the
National Defense Authorization Act The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) is the name for each of a series of United States federal laws specifying the annual budget and expenditures of the U.S. Department of Defense. The first NDAA was passed in 1961. The U.S. Congress o ...
to ask the U.S. State Department to act against propaganda with an inter-agency panel. The legislation authorized funding of $160 million over a two-year-period. The initiative was developed through a
bipartisan Bipartisanship, sometimes referred to as nonpartisanship, is a political situation, usually in the context of a two-party system (especially those of the United States and some other western countries), in which opposing political parties find co ...
bill, the
Countering Foreign Propaganda and Disinformation Act Countering Foreign Propaganda and Disinformation Act is a bipartisan bill that was introduced by the United States Congress on 10 May 2016. The bill was initially called the Countering Information Warfare Act. The bipartisan legislation was writ ...
, written by U.S. Senators
Rob Portman Robert Jones Portman (born December 19, 1955) is an American attorney and politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, junior United States Senate, United States senator from Ohio since 2011. A member of the Republican Party ...
(Republican) and
Chris Murphy Christopher Scott Murphy (born August 3, 1973) is an American lawyer, author, and politician serving as the junior United States senator from Connecticut since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served in the United States Hou ...
(Democrat). Portman urged more U.S. government action to counter propaganda. Murphy said after the election it was apparent the U.S. needed additional tactics to fight Russian propaganda. U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee member
Ron Wyden Ronald Lee Wyden (; born May 3, 1949) is an American politician and retired educator serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from Oregon, a seat he has held since 1996 United Stat ...
said frustration over covert Russian propaganda was bipartisan. Republican U.S. Senators stated they planned to hold hearings and investigate Russian influence on the 2016 U.S. elections. By doing so they went against the preference of incoming Republican President-elect Donald Trump, who downplayed any potential Russian meddling in the election. U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman
John McCain John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American politician and United States Navy officer who served as a United States senator from Arizona from 1987 until his death in 2018. He previously served two terms ...
and U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman
Richard Burr Richard Mauze Burr (born November 30, 1955) is an American businessman and politician who is the senior United States senator from North Carolina, serving since 2005. A member of the Republican Party, Burr was previously a member of the United ...
discussed plans for collaboration on investigations of Russian
cyberwarfare Cyberwarfare is the use of cyber attacks against an enemy state, causing comparable harm to actual warfare and/or disrupting vital computer systems. Some intended outcomes could be espionage, sabotage, propaganda, manipulation or economic war ...
during the election. U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman
Bob Corker Robert Phillips Corker Jr. (born August 24, 1952) is an American businessman and politician who served as a United States Senator from Tennessee from 2007 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he served as Chair of the Senate Foreign Rela ...
planned a 2017 investigation. Senator
Lindsey Graham Lindsey Olin Graham (born July 9, 1955) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the senior United States senator from South Carolina, a seat he has held since 2003. A member of the Republican Party, Graham chaired the Senate Committee ...
indicated he would conduct a sweeping investigation in the
115th Congress The 115th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States of America federal government, composed of the Senate and the House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C., from January 3, 2017, to January 3 ...
.


President Obama order

On December 9, 2016, President Obama ordered the entire
United States Intelligence Community United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two fi ...
to conduct an investigation into Russia's attempts to influence the 2016 U.S. election — and provide a report before he left office on January 20, 2017.
Lisa Monaco Lisa Oudens Monaco (born February 25, 1968) is an American attorney, former federal prosecutor and national security official who has served as the 39th deputy attorney general of the United States since April 2021. Monaco previously served as H ...
, U.S. Homeland Security Advisor and chief counterterrorism advisor to the president, announced the study, and said the intrusion of a foreign nation into a U.S. national election was an unprecedented event that would necessitate further investigation by subsequent administrations in the executive branch. The intelligence analysis will take into account data from the last three presidential elections in the U.S. Evidence showed malicious
cyberwarfare Cyberwarfare is the use of cyber attacks against an enemy state, causing comparable harm to actual warfare and/or disrupting vital computer systems. Some intended outcomes could be espionage, sabotage, propaganda, manipulation or economic war ...
during the
2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
and 2016 U.S. elections.


See also

*
2016 Democratic National Committee email leak The 2016 Democratic National Committee email leak is a collection of Democratic National Committee (DNC) emails stolen by one or more hackers operating under the pseudonym "Guccifer 2.0" who are alleged to be Russian intelligence agency hackers, ...
*
Cold War II The Second Cold War, Cold War II, or the New Cold War are terms that refer to heightened political, social, ideological, informational, and military tensions in the 21st century. The term is used in the context of the tensions between th ...
*
Conspiracy theories related to the Trump–Ukraine scandal Since 2016, then-presidential candidate Donald Trump and his allies have promoted several conspiracy theories related to the Trump–Ukraine scandal. One such theory seeks to blame Ukraine, instead of Russia, for interference in the 2016 Unite ...
*
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee cyber attacks On Friday July 29, 2016 the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee reported that its computer systems had been infiltrated. It is strongly believed by US intelligence sources that the infiltrator groups are Russian foreign intelligence groups ...
*
Foreign electoral intervention Foreign electoral interventions are attempts by governments, covertly or overtly, to influence elections in another country. Academic studies Intervention measurements Theoretical and empirical research on the effect of foreign electoral inte ...
*
Office of Personnel Management data breach In June 2015, the United States Office of Personnel Management (OPM) announced that it had been the target of a data breach targeting personnel records. Approximately 22.1 million records were affected, including records related to government emplo ...
*
Operation Aurora Operation Aurora was a series of cyber attacks conducted by advanced persistent threats such as the Elderwood Group based in Beijing, China, with ties to the People's Liberation Army. First publicly disclosed by Google on January 12, 2010, in a ...
* ''
The Plot to Hack America ''The Plot to Hack America: How Putin's Cyberspies and WikiLeaks Tried to Steal the 2016 Election'' is a non-fiction book by Malcolm Nance about what the author describes as Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections. It was publi ...
'' *
Podesta emails In March 2016, the personal Gmail account of John Podesta, a former White House chief of staff and chair of Hillary Clinton's 2016 U.S. presidential campaign, was compromised in a data breach accomplished via a spear-phishing attack, and some ...
*
Russian espionage in the United States Russian espionage in the United States has occurred since at least the Cold War (as the Soviet Union), and likely well before. According to the United States government, by 2007 it had reached Cold War levels.
*
Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections The Russian government interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election with the goals of harming the campaign of Hillary Clinton, boosting the candidacy of Donald Trump, and increasing political and social discord in the United States. Acc ...
*
Russian interference in the 2018 United States elections The United States Intelligence Community concluded in early 2018 that the Russian government was continuing the interfence it started during the 2016 elections and was attempting to influence the 2018 United States mid-term elections by gene ...
*
Social media in the 2016 United States presidential election Social media played an important role in shaping the course of events leading up to, during, and after the 2016 United States presidential election. It enabled people to have a greater interaction with the political climate, controversies, and n ...
*
Trump Tower meeting Trump most commonly refers to: * Donald Trump (born 1946), 45th president of the United States (2017–2021) * Trump (card games), any playing card given an ad-hoc high rank Trump may also refer to: Businesses and organizations * Donald J. T ...
* *
Yahoo! data breaches The Internet service company Yahoo! was subjected to the largest data breach on record. Two major data breaches of user account data to hackers were revealed during the second half of 2016. The first announced breach, reported in September 2016, ...


References


External links


Timeline of hacks and publications
on Glomar Disclosure {{Hacking in the 2010s Computer security Democratic National Committee Espionage Russian intelligence agencies 2015 scandals 2016 scandals Data breaches in the United States 2015 in the United States 2016 in the United States Email hacking Hacking in the 2010s 2015 in computing 2016 in computing Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections