Hackers tried phishing Clinton’s email


Associated Press

WASHINGTON

Russia-linked hackers tried at least five times to pry into Hillary Rodham Clinton’s private email account while she was secretary of state, emails released Wednesday show. It is unclear if she clicked on any attachment and exposed her account.

Clinton received the infected emails, disguised as speeding tickets, over four hours early Aug. 3, 2011. The emails instructed recipients to print the attached tickets, which would have allowed hackers to take control of their computers.

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.

Clinton has said repeatedly that the unusual homebrew server she used was secure.

But 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.

On Wednesday, the State Department has released about 6,000 additional pages of Clinton’s emails, covering a period when U.S. forces killed Osama bin Laden and the Arab Spring rocked American diplomacy.

Thirty-seven percent of Clinton’s 30,000 work-related emails are now public. The State Department plans to release them all by January.

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