Politico: NRCC Hacked During 2018 Midterms

This was published about an hour ago by Politico. According to three senior party officials, a contractor for the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) detected the intrusion in April and they kept a lid on it.

Exclusive: Emails of top NRCC officials stolen in major 2018 hack

The email accounts of four senior aides at the National Republican Congressional Committee were surveilled for several months, the party officials said. The intrusion was detected in April by an NRCC vendor, who alerted the committee and its cybersecurity contractor. An internal investigation was initiated and the FBI was alerted to the attack, said the officials, who requested anonymity to discuss the incident.

However, senior House Republicans — including Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) — were not informed of the hack until POLITICO contacted the NRCC on Monday with questions about the episode. Rank-and-file House Republicans were not told, either.

Rep. Steve Stivers (R-Ohio), who served as NRCC chairman this past election cycle, did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

Committee officials said they decided to withhold the information because they were intent on conducting their own investigation, and feared that revealing the hack would compromise efforts to find the culprit.

It's been confirmed by their Mercury (yes, *that* Mercury) reps:

“The NRCC can confirm that it was the victim of a cyber intrusion by an unknown entity. The cybersecurity of the Committee’s data is paramount, and upon learning of the intrusion, the NRCC immediately launched an internal investigation and notified the FBI, which is now investigating the matter,” said Ian Prior, a vice president at Mercury.

Also, it looks like the NRCC called in... wait for it... Crowdstrike.

The hack was first detected by an MSSP, a managed security services provider that monitors the NRCC’s network. The MSSP informed NRCC officials and they, in turn, alerted Crowdstrike, a well-known cybersecurity firm that had already been retained by the NRCC.

a reply to: theantediluvian

Well I have heard democrats or their supporters say that it was unfair that Republicans werent hacked as well.

SO now its time for a special counsel to investigate all democrats who have contacts with russians, right?

Time for trups intel agencies to treat the dems like Obamas treated him and his team.

Lets send fbi spies, get some wiretaps, have trump use some oppo research to get wiretaps of dnc connected people.

Lets put FBI investigators who can smell democrat supporters in wal mart, who hate the democrats and need an insurance policy against them.

Lets make sure trump encourages all agencies to spread all info they get from investigating democrats with each other, and then leak to their friends in the press.

Oh and please please please lets not allow the fbi or any investigative agency to look at the servers that were hacked.

a reply to: Grambler

I think a round of immunity is in order for any and all republicans who might have to speak about this. You know, just to keep the situation congruent.

DNC must be thinking about what they don't know about to start equivocating. Two equivocations from our top two DNC operatives within a few minutes. Makes me wonder what is about to be released from _______.

a reply to: Grambler

a reply to: Grambler

I know you're being satirical, but that kind of attitude can and probably will have traction, unfortunately.

I hope there is an investigation, an unbiased one looking for facts and facts only.

This whole targeting opponents is just a waste of tax money and resources.

Our government is bloated and incompetent as it is. Further stressing it takes from other endeavors.

I just wish people would remember a good percentage of America isn't Republican or Democrat. Their whole back and forth is a waste of our governments time and energy. We dwarf nations as far as tax money is concidered and have little to show for it in many realms.

originally posted by: network dude
a reply to: Grambler

I think a round of immunity is in order for any and all republicans who might have to speak about this. You know, just to keep the situation congruent.

Sure, and can we also get some destruction of subpoenaed material by some republicans here as well?

Maybe the FBI can smash up devices with a hammer afterwards, all normal procedure.

a reply to: CriticalStinker

Well of course you are right.

This is why I have been consistent that I am far more concerned with having biased, corrupt or incompetent intel and investigative agencies than any one corrupt politician.

Our enemies, and allies for that matter, both aroad and domestically will always try to gain access to info, hacks being one method.

That did not justify the aboslute unbelievable behavior we saw from Obamas agencies and the FBI in response to the DNC hack.

I was bieng tongue in cheek about what turnabout being fairplay would be.

In reality, I think this hack should be looked in to, starting by having agencies look at the hacked server, and jsutice should be sought.

However, the far more pressing issue is invetsigating these agencies behavior in the Hillary and russia cases.

a reply to: Grambler

That's why I wanted to start with I know you were being satirical, I've read enough of your posts to have a good general idea on where you stand.

Who knows who did it, these days data is as good as currency. Depending on the level of the breach, a lot of data could be gathered, some of it very sensitive information of individuals.

It could be a foreign government, profiteer hackers, or a belligerent just mucking up the waters just to muck up the waters.

Hopefully we find out soon though.

Cheers.

a reply to: CriticalStinker

It could be a republican seeking to gain sympathy for republicans claiming they get hacked too.

You are right, no one knows.

The sad truth is that hacks are inevitable.

The way they are politicized is troubling.

For example, we know the Chinese have hacked the US and stolen intelectual property far more than other countries. And we also know that many politicians, lobbyists, etc, have strong connections to many chinese interests, yet not a big deal is made of that.

Yet with russia, all of this investigation was warranted. But only on one side of course, with democrat connections to the very same russians all but ignored.

Granted, I am more conspiratorial than most (well in the real world, maybe not ats) but I honestly have no trust in our intel agencies after what has come to light about them.

So the problem we face is, even if they come out with a perpetrator, they most likely wont show us all of the evidence, so how can we believe them?

And not just in tghis case, but all future cases?

a reply to: theantediluvian

those sneaky Russians.

a reply to: Grambler

Well I have heard democrats or their supporters say that it was unfair that Republicans werent hacked as well.

I've heard from Republicans that Crowdstrike is run by/staffed with Russia-hating deep state NWO operatives who are either grossly incompetent clowns or masters of fabricating fake hacks. (depending on which narrative needs pushing)

So I assume that the RNCC contracting Crowdstrike invalidates the whole thing? The article says the FBI was contacted but that there was an "internal investigation" as well. Does that mean that the FBI didn't come in and cart off all of the RNCC's hardware?

OMG. We'll never know what happened now. Quick, call Sean Hannity and Kim Dotcom!

SO now its time for a special counsel to investigate all democrats who have contacts with russians, right?

Why are you assuming it was the Russians? Could have been a 400 lb kid in his mom's basement in China.

Lets send fbi spies, get some wiretaps, have trump use some oppo research to get wiretaps of dnc connected people.

By all means, if it's attributed to the Russians and you can find a campaign that the Russians sought to benefit through this hacking and there's an ex-FP advisor who was in Moscow giving pro-Kremlin speeches while the Russians were hacking the RNCC to benefit his boss, get a FISA warrant.

The problem with this is that they're not really all that comparable. If you can find the same sort of forest fire levels of smoke wafting up from a Democratic campaign in this situation as there was from Trump & co in 2016, then it would be malfeasance not to investigate.

Lets put FBI investigators who can smell democrat supporters in wal mart, who hate the democrats and need an insurance policy against them.

I assume they'll find a group of people with absolutely zero political opinions who have never voted, never donated to a campaign, never attended a political event, never texted a political opinion, etc. There should be bunches of them.

Lets make sure trump encourages all agencies to spread all info they get from investigating democrats with each other, and then leak to their friends in the press.

Sorry, he's too busy playing mob boss on Twitter.

Oh and please please please lets not allow the fbi or any investigative agency to look at the servers that were hacked.

Well, I would assume that the RNCC immediately turned over every piece of hardware they had. Right?

a reply to: theantediluvian

First, if the rnc refuses to turn over their server to the FBI, and relies only on the firm they paid crowdstrike, then yep, I would say they should not be trusted.

I know its weird, I am consistent like that.

Second, all of your mumbo jumbo about someone giving pro russian speeches while hacks were going on. I am sure it would be a simple ting to find a democrat somewhere in washing ton that had connections to who ever is responsible for this hack, rather it be russia, china, the UK, or google. Thats all thats needed right? So send in the spies to the DNC!!!! Get the wiretaps ready!!!

And, given that there was so much smoke as you say, why has not one person connected to trump been charged with colluding with russians to affect the 2016 campaign? Yet still, all of the fbi spies and wiretaps were necessary right?

And funny, I seem to remember Hillarys husband while she was SOS meeting putin in person, and getting half a million dollars while Hillarys dept voted to allow the sell of uranium rights to russia amidst criminal actors being charged with breaking laws surrounding that deal.

Its strange, I dont remember you saying the FBI not wiretapping the clintons and people connected to them as a result of that was malfeasance.

Third, no I wouldnt expect them to find people with zero political opinions.

I would settle for people that werent all on one side of the political aisle, cheering for one candidate, saying voters of the other smelled, and scheming insurance policies in case the other side won.

But I know, you must think that would be strange to want not so obviously biased people.

a reply to: theantediluvian

You know, I somewhat understand the importance of this news, especially if there's any merit to it.

But really...........who gives a flying F*** anymore about who's hacking who? Whether someone hacks the Dems or the Republicrats, what possible difference does it make?

Any more, I just don't understand so-called partisan politics in the US. Its all such a tedious endless circle jerk. I say at this point, just vote Democrat to create the One Party State, like California except for the whole country and be done with it.

originally posted by: Grambler

originally posted by: network dude
a reply to: Grambler

I think a round of immunity is in order for any and all republicans who might have to speak about this. You know, just to keep the situation congruent.

Sure, and can we also get some destruction of subpoenaed material by some republicans here as well?

Maybe the FBI can smash up devices with a hammer afterwards, all normal procedure.

Maybe they can try the "Epstein Method." Grant immunity to the primary crook in exchange for his testimony against everyone else, and then never bother to indict the people named because it's too politically sensitive. It's a nice little scam.

a reply to: Cassi3l

More likely, guys like Jeff Flake and Paul Ryan are being blackmailed to oppose Trump. I honestly think Jeff Flake is going to be indicted once he leaves office, and he's trying to hold up Trump's judicial nominees in a desperate hope that this will somehow stack the court in his favor. I mean, even Flake's Republican colleagues are puzzled by his behavior (at least publically), and are like, "Dude? WTF is your problem, hoss?"

a reply to: AndyFromMichigan

Pure invention and supposition on your behalf

Link
... snip ...
News website Politico, which first reported the hack, said the accounts of four senior aides had been targeted.
It said the accounts were compromised for several months until the intrusion was spotted in April by an NRCC official who alerted the committee.

The NRCC co-ordinates election campaigns for Republican candidates running for the US House of Representatives, the lower house of Congress.

Politico, citing senior party officials, said the NRCC had kept details of the hack hidden from the party's leadership, as well as its house members, saying it feared it would make it harder to find the culprit.

That would be because repubs are well known for being selectively leaky

NRCC spokesman Ian Prior said: "The NRCC can confirm that it was the victim of a cyber intrusion by an unknown entity. The cybersecurity of the Committee's data is paramount, and upon learning of the intrusion, the NRCC immediately launched an internal investigation and notified the FBI, which is now investigating the matter."

He added: "To protect the integrity of that investigation, the NRCC will offer no further comment on the incident."

For 10 points, without refering, who said :
"Russia, if you're listening, release those e-mails"

If anything underhanded or illegal comes to light I hope that they will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. They probably will be since the Republicans don’t have the intel agencies in their pocket to cover things up for them like the Dems did when they were hacked.

originally posted by: Grambler
a reply to: theantediluvian

Well I have heard democrats or their supporters say that it was unfair that Republicans werent hacked as well.

SO now its time for a special counsel to investigate all democrats who have contacts with russians, right?

The FBI and NRCC have both said it was foreign state.

It is also interesting that the National Republican Campaign Committee did not disclose this to anyone, even thier own members.

Also, I find it interesting that none of the hacked Material was used or released in the Mid-Term campaign.

That might lead one to believe the motivation was not to prevent Republican's from winning elections, but rather to obtain material that a foreign state could leverage over republicans once elected.

Similar MO to RNC being hacked at the same time the DNC was, but only the DNC material being released.

I am glad the FBI is involved.