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| Attempted Hacking of Voter Database Was a False Alarm, Democratic Party Says | Attempted Hacking of Voter Database Was a False Alarm, Democratic Party Says |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| WASHINGTON — The suspected hacking attempt of the Democratic National Committee’s voter database was a false alarm, and the unusual activity that raised concern was merely a test, a committee official said. | WASHINGTON — The suspected hacking attempt of the Democratic National Committee’s voter database was a false alarm, and the unusual activity that raised concern was merely a test, a committee official said. |
| The suspicious phishing activity detected this week had prompted the committee to contact the F.B.I. out of fears that it was another Russian attempt to penetrate the committee as Moscow did during the 2016 campaign. | |
| The test had similar attributes to an actual hacking, said Bob Lord, the committee’s chief security officer. It was not a test that the committee had authorized. Mr. Lord has referred to the database as “the party’s most sensitive information.” | |
| The jolts of panic underscored the continued fear of another major breach of the party’s systems just weeks before the midterm elections, even as computer security has been prioritized and shored up since 2016. American intelligence officials have said there continue to be real threats from Russia to interfere in American elections. | |
| “There are constant attempts to hack the D.N.C. and our Democratic infrastructure, and while we are extremely relieved that this wasn’t an attempted intrusion by a foreign adversary, this incident is further proof that we need to continue to be vigilant in light of potential attacks,” Mr. Lord said in a statement. | |
| With the midterm elections just over 70 days from now, political groups and systems administrators have been on high alert. | |
| Microsoft recently detected that hackers tied to Russian intelligence targeted the Senate and conservative think tanks in the United States by creating fake websites. Last month, Facebook discovered a political influence campaign directed at disrupting the upcoming elections. And this week, the social media giant said it had found other disinformation efforts outside the United States. |