GOP committee suffers ‘email hack’

FBI, cybersecurity firm probe ‘unknown entity’

WASHINGTON, Dec 5, (AP): Thousands of emails were stolen from aides to the National Republican Congressional Committee during the 2018 midterm campaign, a major breach exposing vulnerabilities that have kept cybersecurity experts on edge since the 2016 presidential race.

The email accounts were compromised during a series of intrusions that had been spread over several months and discovered in April, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. At least four different party aides had their emails surveilled by hackers, said the person, who was not authorized to discuss the details publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The committee said an “unknown entity” was behind the hack but provided few other details. A cybersecurity firm and the FBI have been investigating the matter, the committee said. The FBI declined to comment.

Politically motivated cyberespionage is commonplace across the world, but Americans have become particularly alert to the possibility of digital interference since Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election. The theft of Democrats’ emails is still fresh in the minds of many political operatives and lawmakers, who have stepped up defensive measures but still struggle to protect themselves.

Foreign spies routinely try to hack into politicians’ emails to gain insight, ferret out weaknesses and win a diplomatic edge. But hackers often launch sweeping spear-phishing campaigns to gain access to a variety accounts - with no political motivation. With no immediate suspects and few technical details, it’s unclear what the significance of this latest incursion is.

In August, the Democratic National Committee thought it had thwarted an attempt to break into its massive voter

Prosecutors said he spoke in detail about committing specific acts of violence including launching attacks at public gatherings such as the Honolulu Christmas Parade and planning a suicide bombing at his army barracks.

In June and July of last year, he met with undercover FBI agents posing as people with connections to ISIS and provided them with sensitive material. database - but the effort turned out to be unauthorized test that mimicked what an attack would look like.

CrowdStrike, a California-based cybersecurity company, said Tuesday the NRCC asked the company in April to “perform an investigation related to unauthorized access” to the committee’s emails. Before that, the company had been helping the committee protect its internal corporate network, which wasn’t compromised.

“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,” the committee said in a statement. The hack was first reported by Politico.

Earlier this year, NRCC Chairman Steve Stivers said the committee – which raises money to support Republican candidates for the House - hired multiple cybersecurity staffers to work with its candidates and promised to do more.

Working

“We’re starting to advise campaigns, but we’re not ready to roll the whole thing out. We’re working on it,” Stivers said in March. “We’re working on the technology-based stuff to try and make sure that we know what’s out there – which is hard, too – and then we try to defend against it the best we can.”

During the 2016 presidential campaign, Russian state-aligned hackers organized the leak of more than 150,000 emails stolen from more than a dozen Democrats. The FBI later said that the Russians had targeted more than 300 people affiliated with the Hillary Clinton campaign and other Democratic institutions over the course of the presidential contest.

Special counsel Robert Mueller is now investigating the whether people

He also supplied the agents with a small aerial drone and military-style clothing and gear.

Walker shouted down over GOP attempt to weaken his successor. (AP)

Migrants breach US border:

Central American migrants stuck on the threshold of the United States in Mexico breached close to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign had advance knowledge of WikiLeaks’ plans.

US officials have expressed concern about foreign interference in US elections. This weekend, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis accused Russia of trying to “muck around” in the November midterm elections. Mattis did not offer specifics and would not elaborate.

In October, the Justice Department unsealed criminal charges detailing a yearslong effort by a Russian troll farm to “sow division and discord in the US political system” by creating thousands of false social media profiles and email accounts that appeared to be from people inside the United States. The complaint provided a clear picture that there is still a hidden but powerful Russian social media effort aimed at spreading distrust for American political candidates and causing divisions on social issues such as immigration and gun control.

The campaign season saw several examples of digital mischief, although none with the impact of the 2016 hacks.

In August, Microsoft alerted the public to attempts by governmentbacked Russian hackers to target US conservatives’ email by creating fake websites that appeared to belong to a pair of think tanks, the Hudson Institute and International Republican Institute. It also confirmed an attempt similarly attributed to Russian hackers to infiltrate the Senate computer network of Sen Claire McCaskill, the Missouri Democrat who lost a re-election bid in November.

Google later confirmed in September that the personal Gmail accounts of multiple senators and staffers had recently been targeted by foreign hackers, though it did not specify the cyberspies’ nationality nor the party affiliations of the targets.

the border fence on Monday, risking almost certain detention by US authorities but hoping the illegal entry will allow them to apply for asylum.

Since mid-October, thousands of Central Americans, mostly from Honduras, have traveled north through Mexico in a caravan, some walking much of the long trek.

US President Donald Trump has vowed to stop the migrants, sending troops to reinforce the border and attempting a procedural change, so far denied by the courts, to require asylum-seekers to remain in Mexico while their cases are heard.

Frustrated and exhausted after weeks of uncertainty, many migrants have become desperate since getting stuck in squalid camps in the Mexican border city of Tijuana.

So a number opted to eschew legal procedures and attempt an illegal entry from Tijuana as dusk fell on Monday at a spot about 1,500 feet (450 meters) from the Pacific Ocean.

In less than an hour, Reuters reporters observed roughly two dozen people climb the approximately 10-foot (3-meter) fence made of thick sheets and pillars of metal. They chose a place in a large overgrown ditch where the fence is slightly lower.

Just before dusk, three thin people squeezed through the fence on the beach and were quickly picked up by the U.S. Border Patrol, witnesses said.

But along the border inland as darkness descended, more and more migrants followed, many bringing children.

Some used a blanket as a rope to help loved ones get over. (RTRS)