UPDATED: Russians Suspected of Hacking Democrats Also Went After Republicans, Researchers Say

Source: The Daily Beast

Cybersecurity experts have linked one of the groups that stole emails from the DNC to a campaign against lawmakers and officials, including John McCain.

For weeks, Democratic politicians have been bracing for the release of more embarrassing emails that U.S. officials believe were stolen by Russian hackers and then handed over to WikiLeaks. But Republicans have reason to worry, too. Computer security researchers are linking one of the Russian groups that stole emails from the Democratic National Committee to a campaign that hacked the staff of at least three GOP lawmakers, as well as state-level party officials across the country.

Back in June, a little noticed website called DCLeaks published the emails of various political and military figures. Most public attention focused on emails written by retired Gen. Philip Breedlove, formerly the supreme allied commander of NATO.

But the DCLeaks cache also included emails from hundreds of Republican politicos, including of campaign staff for Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham, who ran for president this year, as well as Republican Michele Bachmann, a former member of Congress who ran for president in 2012. The lawmakers had served on sensitive committees including Armed Services and Intelligence. DCLeaks also published messages from party officials in Wyoming, Illinois, Connecticut, and Texas.

The Daily Beast contacted multiple offices of those implicated in the hack, including McCain and Graham, but received no response.

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Read more: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/08/12/russians-suspected-of-hacking-democrats-also-went-after-republicans-researchers-say.html

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UPDATE:

Site connected to Russian hackers posts Republican emails

A website tied to the hacking scandal of the Democratic Party has now posted a small batch of leaked emails from Republican campaigns and state GOP staffers. The emails on the site, known as DCLeaks, appear to be from state party officials and former Republican presidential candidates, including Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). The messages range from June to October of 2015.

The DNC hacker or hackers known as Guccifer 2.0 used DC Leaks to promote leaks from a Clinton staffer's email to The Smoking Gun, though the hacker claimed not to have been involved with the theft of the messages. Most of the messages coordinate campaign activities, solicit funds, or invite or RSVP to events. The archive is largely the procedural minutia of running campaigns or state parties.

The emails include a wide array of constituent email addresses. Many appear to be responses to mass-emails from concerned party supporters writing in to their delegates. One reply to a Stop Hillary PAC fundraising email targeting Democrats lack of support for the Benghazi commission reads, "Don’t the Republicans have a majority in Congress? Isn’t John Boehner a Republican? What is the problem that you need my $36 to help you fight back."

The archive appears to be incomplete, with replies to emails that don't appear to be included on their own. That could mean the emails were deleted before being retrieved, or that the leaker or site decided to scrub certain items from the record. But that there was a leak at all runs counter to a Republican narrative that the DNC is particularly susceptible to data breaches (“What is it with Democrats that they can't maintain basic email security?” Mike Huckabee asked on Facebook).

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http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/291317-gop-emails-leaked-on-site-connected-to-russian-hackers