News and Commentary

Did Russia Attempt To Hack The Heritage Foundation During The Election?

   DailyWire.com

A new report suggests that there were hacking attempts against The Heritage Foundation during the election, believed to have been launched by the figures who hacked the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman John Podesta: the Russians.

According to The Daily Caller, an email sent to Heritage employees from October 2016 warns that “the same threat groups that have been releasing information about the DNC, Hillary Clinton, and recently John Podesta have been targeting specific people within Heritage via phishing campaigns.”

“Our security monitoring tools and services show no signs of an active compromise,” the email reads. “However, we were contacted by the FBI agent-in-charge regarding emails sent to Heritage staff in August and September.”

The Heritage Foundation issued a statement to The Daily Caller acknowledging that they are constantly targeted by “phishing attacks,” though none of them have been successful.

Jim DeMint, who was recently ousted from his position as president of Heritage, told The Daily Caller that the conservative think-tank was indeed targeted by hackers listed in the October email – mostly involving employees that weren’t covered by Heritage’s cybersecurity software – but the hackers were unable to cause any damage. DeMint also mentioned that in the past, Chinese hackers were able to successfully hack the organization, but all they did was monitor the papers they were writing.

It is widely believed that the Russians were behind the hacking of the DNC and Podesta’s emails that were distributed to the public domain via Wikileaks. If the email is correct, then Russia may have attempted to hack The Heritage Foundation, which would mean the Russians only had one goal in mind with their hacking: cause chaos during the election. And if it got Trump elected, all the better for them.

Read the full report here.

Follow Aaron Bandler on Twitter.

Got a tip worth investigating?

Your information could be the missing piece to an important story. Submit your tip today and make a difference.

Submit Tip
The Daily Wire   >  Read   >  Did Russia Attempt To Hack The Heritage Foundation During The Election?