Clintonprivate account targeted inRussia-linkedemail scam

WASHINGTON>> Russia-linked hackers tried at least five times to trick Hillary Rodham Clinton into infecting her computer systems while she was secretary of state, newlyreleasedemailsshow. It was unclear whether she was fooled into clicking on any attachments to expose her account.

Clinton received the virusriddled emails, disguised as speeding tickets from New York, over four hours early on the morning of Aug. 3, 2011. The emails instructed recipients to print the attached tickets — and opening them would have allowed hackers to take over control of a victim’s computer.

Security researchers who analyzed the malicious software in September 2011 said that infected computers would transmit information from victims to at least three server computers overseas, including one in Russia. That doesn’t necessarily mean Russian intelligence or citizens were responsible.

NickMerrill, a spokesman forClinton’sDemocratic presidential campaign, said: “We have no evidence to suggest she replied to this email or that she opened the attachment. Aswehave saidbefore, there is no evidence that the systemwas ever breached. All these emails showis that, like millions of other Americans, she received spam.”

Practically every Internet user is inundated with spam or virus-riddled messages daily. But these messages show hackers had Clinton’s email address, which was not public, and sent her a fake traffic ticket fromNew York state, where she lives. Most commercial antivirus software at the time would have detected the software and blocked it.

The phishing attempts highlight the risk of Clinton’s unsecure email being pried open by foreign intelligence agencies, even if others also received the virus concealed as a speeding ticket from Chatham, New York. The email misspelled the name of the city, came from a supposed New York City government account and contained a “Ticket.zip” file that would have been a red flag.

Clinton has faced increasing questions over whether her unusual email setup amounted to a proper form of secrecy protection and records retention. The emails themselves— many redacted heavily before public release — have providedno shocking disclosures thus far and Clinton has insisted the server was secure.

During Clinton’s tenure, the State Department and other U.S. government agencies faced their own series of hacking attacks. U.S. counterterrorism officials have linked them to China and Russia. But the government has a large staff of information technology experts, whereas Clinton has yet to provide any information on whomaintained her server and how well it was secured.

The State Department estimated that its own government users were targeted with 19,000 such incidents the same year thatClintonreceived the five emails on her personal account. The following year, the number of such incidents in the StateDepartment surged to 27,000.