We already knew that a recent hack that targeted US Democratic officials was going to be more than just access to possibly incriminating emails, but we didn’t realise it would be this soon.
Nancy Pelosi. Photo credit: J. Scott Applewhite/AP
According to a post from a notorious hacker, the contact and password information for multiple Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) members has been leaked, including mobile phone numbers and documents from personal computers.
The hacker, known as Guccifer 2.0, posted the update on his website Friday, listing the mobile phone numbers of most House Democrats, along with email addresses and the contact information of their emergency contacts.
Among other things addressed in the leak: Passwords to research databases and publications, documents on the House race for Florida’s 18th district (including information on Republican contenders) and documents that they claim are from House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s personal computer.
The password leak is especially worrying, as according to Guccifer 2.0, they were in a document that was sent via email to a number of DCCC officials, along with other attachments that were obtained by the hacker.
Guccifer 2.0 is the same hacker that claimed responsibility for the recent widespread hack in July, although US security officials have put the blame on Russian hackers. In this case, WikiLeaks published nearly 20,000 emails that were obtained through the hack.
Like Assange, Guccifer isn’t the biggest Hillary Clinton fan, or a fan of mainstream politics in general, calling the US political system a “farce”.
Gizmodo received a statement from Rep. Adam Schiff, from the Committee on Intelligence on the latest leak.
The unauthorised disclosure of people’s personally identifiable information is never acceptable, and we can fully expect the authorities will be investigating the posting of this information.
I have every confidence that law enforcement will get to the bottom of this, and identify the responsible parties. And when they do, I hope the Administration will disclose who is attempting to interfere with the American political process, and levy strong consequences against those responsible.