Russian hackers hacked Obama's emails - New York Times
Some of US President Barack Obama's emails were read by Russian hackers, the White House officially announced today, according to the New York Times.
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Some of President Obama's emails were read by Russian hackers last year. Senior US officials provided updates on the progress of the investigation.
The White House says the penetration was not deep and did not reach sensitive servers. Most likely, it happened through an unclassified network, since employees use both a classified system and an unclassified one, in which, however, they can transmit quite valuable information. But the hackers, according to official Washington, gained access to the email archives of White House employees, and, possibly, some external recipients of letters with whom Obama regularly communicated.
Officials have not disclosed the number of Barack Obama emails that were collected by hackers or the significance of their contents. The president's email account itself does not appear to have been hacked.
Washington officials did not provide reliable information that these were indeed Russian hackers. They pointed to circumstantial facts that allegedly Russian hackers are better at covering their tracks than Chinese ones, and that the penetration occurred precisely at a time when there was a sharp deterioration in relations between Russia and the United States.
The discovery of the hack in October led to a partial shutdown of the White House email system. The hackers appear to have been identified and removed from the White House systems in late October. But they continued to target the State Department, whose system is much more extensive than the Executive Office itself. The disruptions were so severe that during Iran nuclear talks in Vienna in November, officials were forced to hand over personal accounts and email addresses almost privately to each other and to journalists in order to maintain contact.
On April 1, 2015, Obama expanded the ability to retaliate against foreign hackers.
It's worth noting that the topic of the "Russian hacker threat" has been actively circulating in Western media for over six months. It often plays a key role in fueling anti-Russian hysteria. German economic news outlets have reported that the threat of a so-called hacker attack on the global financial system could lead to a restructuring of the financial world.
Russian Hackers Hacked Obama's Emails - New York Times