Report: Hackers Who Compromised DNC Also Targeted Think Tanks

FILE - In this Feb. 27, 2013, file photo, hands type on a computer keyboard in Los Angeles. News that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg's rarely used Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest accounts were briefly compromised s... FILE - In this Feb. 27, 2013, file photo, hands type on a computer keyboard in Los Angeles. News that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg's rarely used Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest accounts were briefly compromised should serve as a reminder that we’re all susceptible to hacking. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File) MORE LESS
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Russian hackers who launched a cyber attack on the Democratic National Committee also targeted think tanks that study Russia in Washington, D.C., Defense One reported on Monday.

The CEO of Crowdstrike, a company that investigated the DNC hack, told Defense one that one of the same groups that targeted the DNC also attacked fewer than five think tanks, but did not take any information.

One think tank, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), confirmed that the organization was targeted by hackers.

“Last week we were under attack, but our small staff was very responsive. Beyond that, I’m not going to discuss the details because it is under active investigation,” H. Andrew Schwartz, the senior vice president for external relations, wrote in an email to Defense One.

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  1. There must be a few journalists working overtime to expose the full story on Manafort. These cyberattacks only give more motivation to find the dirt.

    … my thinking being that Trump can’t survive showing a direct chain of contact to and from Putin. If Russia truly is planning to hack election machines, Trump needs to be buried completely before Nov. 8.

  2. I suspect over the next decade, Russia will be sorry they started this cyber-snooping and cherry-picked info sharing with the likes of WikiLeaks. Payback from Americans–rightly or wrongly–can be hell. Especially considering America is home to the likes of Silicon Valley. We are the hub, the world’s home if you will, of cyber technological advances. Not a threat, Russia, a warning. Well … a threat too, but a provoked one. Happy Day, Mr. Putin.

  3. Stuxnet is an example of what happens to people who piss us off.

  4. Exactly. Hate to say it, but the many bugs you and I–the lay people–must put up with during our normal days, are a feature not … well a bug. They create these programs with the knowledge that our “enemies” (known and unknown) will use them as well. That way, we know their vulnerabilities, their weaknesses. I know this is not 100% their intent, but it’s a fair part of their “thinking.”

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