Democrats' House campaign committee confirms it was also hacked

The Democratic hacks just keep coming.

Following on from the high-profile hack of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) has confirmed it has also been hacked. The DCCC is the campaign arm for House Democrats.

On Friday morning, CNN political reporter Manu Raju tweeted that the hack has been confirmed by the DCCC. It followed an investigation by the FBI.

 Follow

Manu Raju 

✔@mkraju

DCCC now publicly confirming it has been hacked and has been advised incident similar to DNC hack. Investigation ongoing.

7:08 PM - 29 Jul 2016

 
•  322322 Retweets
 
•  158158 likes

"The DCCC can confirm we have been the target of a cybersecurity incident. Upon discovering the issue, we immediately took action and engaged CrowdStrike, a leading forensic investigator, to assist us in addressing this incident," the DCCC Press Secretary said in a statement, according to a Reuters journalist Dustin Volz.

View image on Twitter

 Follow

Dustin Volz 

✔@dnvolz

UPDATE: DCCC confirms it has been targeted by hackers. Working with @CrowdStrike and FBI to investigate

7:09 PM - 29 Jul 2016

 
•  2727 Retweets
 
•  1515 likes

CrowdStrike confirmed it is assisting in an investigation to Mashable, via an emailed statement.

"We can confirm that the DCCC has hired CrowdStrike following the DNC breach and we are investigating the matter. This is an ongoing investigation and we’re not able to provide further comments," the company wrote.

The recent hack of the DNC systems led to the leak of almost 20,000 confidential emails via WikiLeaks, coinciding with the beginning of the Democratic National Convention this week. 

The hack exposed emails indicating supposedly neutral DNC officials maneuvered in favor of Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders. That resulted in party chairwoman Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz announcing her resignation just as the Democratic National Convention was getting under way in Philadelphia. 

Cybersecurity experts who studied the hack at the DNC believe Russian hackers may be responsible. 

— Additional reporting by the Associated Press.

The spy who hacked me: Evildoers love IoT’s weak security

With the explosive growth of the Internet of Things (IoT), both spies and hackers are feasting on a new universe of poorly secured technology.

Recode quotes a top spy from the US National Security Agency who spoke with surprising candor about IoT’s security vulnerabilities. These vulnerabilities stem from the increasing complexity of the technology which, for cyberspooks like the NSA, offers a goldmine of eavesdropping potential.

“As my job is to penetrate other people’s networks, complexity is my friend,” said NSA deputy director Richard Ledgett at a Washington conference.

He added that the connected nature of these new IoT devices allow both spies and hackers a wireless window of opportunity. Indeed, hacking of connected technology is expected to send the IoT security market into overdrive in the coming years.

“The first time you update the software, you introduce vulnerabilities — or variables, rather,” Ledgett said. “It’s a good place to be in a penetration point of view.”

IoT offering spies more back doors?

And there is growing evidence that network penetration by intelligence agencies and cyber criminals alike is becoming easier thanks to the dramatic increase in IoT devices globally.

A Hewlett-Packard study from 2014 found that many IoT devices were shipped from the factory with low security passwords.  As well, a Veracode report from last year discovered many basic security weaknesses in such devices as hubs for home IoT networks and even garage door openers.

Ledgett even admitted that the NSA is researching potential security exploits in such biomedical equipment as pacemakers, as another “tool in the toolbox.”

In his unusually frank speech for an upper echelon NSA representative, Ledgett said that the agency finds it easier to track terrorism suspects or foreign spooks through other avenues of surveillance.

Meanwhile, others in the American intelligence community have broken silence about IoT’s as potential wellspring of actionable intelligence for both friendly and enemy spy agencies.

James Clapper, director of US national intelligence, said at a Senate hearing this year that foreign spy agencies may be specifically targeting IoT devices. They may be using the connected technology for eavesdropping, surveillance, recruiting moles or gaining network access.

So beware, your connected coffee pot may be spilling the beans to spooks with every steaming cup.