Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

SecurityWeekSecurityWeek

Data Protection

Clinton Foundation Denies Being Hacked

The hacker calling himself Guccifer 2.0 leaked hundreds of megabytes of files allegedly stolen from the Clinton Foundation, but the organization’s representatives said there was no evidence of a data breach.

The hacker calling himself Guccifer 2.0 leaked hundreds of megabytes of files allegedly stolen from the Clinton Foundation, but the organization’s representatives said there was no evidence of a data breach.

Guccifer 2.0 has taken credit for hacking the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), from which he leaked numerous files. However, researchers believe Guccifer 2.0, who has claimed to be Romanian, is actually a persona used by Russia-backed threat actors.

In a post published on Tuesday on his WordPress blog, Guccifer 2.0 said he hacked a Clinton Foundation server and downloaded hundreds of thousands of documents from it. The more than 800 Mb of files store various types of information, including what appear to be donor lists.

“Hillary Clinton and her staff don’t even bother about the information security. It was just a matter of time to gain access to the Clinton Foundation server,” the hacker said.

However, Clinton Foundation President Donna E. Shalala said on Twitter that there is no evidence of a hack.

While some of the leaked information could come from a Clinton Foundation server, many of the files appear to originate from earlier hacks for which Guccifer 2.0 took credit. For instance, one of the sample files published by the hacker was created by someone named “Kevin McKeon.” Until 2014, McKeon occupied various leadership roles at the DCCC.

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.

Evidence uncovered by Ars Technica and others also suggests that many of the files come from the DCCC and not the Clinton Foundation.

This is not the first report of a breach at the Clinton Foundation. Bloomberg learned in June that the organization’s systems had been targeted by Russian hackers, but officials said they were not aware of a breach.

Security researchers believe the attacks on the U.S. Democratic Party were actually carried out by cyber espionage groups sponsored by the Russian government. One of these groups is known as Fancy Bear, APT28, Pawn Storm, Strontium, Sofacy, Sednit and Tsar Team.

Fancy Bear is believed to be responsible for, among others, the attacks on the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and organizations investigating the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash in Ukraine.

Written By

Eduard Kovacs (@EduardKovacs) is a managing editor at SecurityWeek. He worked as a high school IT teacher for two years before starting a career in journalism as Softpedia’s security news reporter. Eduard holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial informatics and a master’s degree in computer techniques applied in electrical engineering.

Click to comment

Trending

Daily Briefing Newsletter

Subscribe to the SecurityWeek Email Briefing to stay informed on the latest threats, trends, and technology, along with insightful columns from industry experts.

Join SecurityWeek and Hitachi Vantara for this this webinar to gain valuable insights and actionable steps to enhance your organization's data security and resilience.

Register

Event: ICS Cybersecurity Conference

The leading industrial cybersecurity conference for Operations, Control Systems and IT/OT Security professionals to connect on SCADA, DCS PLC and field controller cybersecurity.

Register

People on the Move

Jared Bartel has been named CISO at Idaho State University.

Automated phishing protection and scam prevention company Bolster has appointed Rod Schultz as CEO.

Bugcrowd has appointed Trey Ford as CISO for the Americas.

More People On The Move

Expert Insights

Daily Briefing Newsletter

Subscribe to the SecurityWeek Email Briefing to stay informed on the latest cybersecurity news, threats, and expert insights. Unsubscribe at any time.