Lone hacker claims credit for DNC hack

The security firm investigating the hack of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) is pushing back on claims that the breach was the work of a lone hacker and not the Russian government.

“CrowdStrike stands fully by its analysis and findings identifying two separate Russian intelligence-affiliated adversaries present in the DNC network in May 2016,” CrowdStrike said in a statement late Wednesday.

{mosads}“These claims do nothing to lessen our findings relating to the Russian government’s involvement.”

On Wednesday, a person called “Guccifer 2.0” took credit for the DNC hack. CrowdStrike confirmed to The Hill that hackers had pilfered the committee’s opposition research file on presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump.

According to CrowdStrike, two separate Russian government hacking groups that did not appear to be working together infiltrated the DNC’s systems. One group, which the firm has nicknamed “Fancy Bear,” is responsible for the theft of the Trump opposition research and is believed to work for Russia’s military intelligence service. 

Both groups were highly sophisticated and able to avoid normal security protections, CrowdStrike said. 

But in a WordPress blog post published Wednesday, Guccifer 2.0 published a document that appears to be the Trump opposition file, which he or she alleged to have stolen from the DNC.

“I’m very pleased the company appreciated my skills so highly))) But in fact, it was easy, very easy,” Guccifer 2.0 wrote.

CrowdStrike did not confirm whether the file was indeed the original stolen material.

“Whether or not this posting is part of a Russian Intelligence disinformation campaign, we are exploring the documents’ authenticity and origin,” CrowdStrike said.

Guccifer 2.0 also claimed to have stolen “thousands” of other documents from the committee. He or she published several other files in the WordPress posting, including a spreadsheet that purported to be a list of Democratic donors. Hollywood A-listers Steven Spielberg and Morgan Freeman appear on the list next to million-dollar donations.

DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz insisted Tuesday that no donor or financial information was exposed in the breach and that only the two files on Trump were taken from the committee’s servers.

“Shame on CrowdStrike: Do you think I’ve been in the DNC’s networks for almost a year and saved only 2 documents? Do you really believe it?” the alleged hacker taunted.

The Hill was unable to verify the authenticity of the documents. Guccifer 2.0 claimed he had turned over the rest of the documents to Wikileaks, who “will publish them soon.”

“F— the Illuminati and their conspiracies!!!!!!!!! F— CrowdStrike!!!!!!!!!” the hacker wrote.