Hacker Claims Hacking Clinton Foundation and Exposes Donor Databases and Pay to Play Folder — Experts believe it’s a phony hack.
You may know that the notorious hacker Guccifer 2.0 was responsible for the DNC and DNCC hack attacks, which resulted in the resignation of Debbie Wasserman Shultz. But what you may not know is that the same hacker is involved in the Clinton Foundation alleged hack attack.
In one of his recent posts on his website, Guccifer 2.0 announced that the time “many of you have been waiting for” has arrived. In the same post, the hacker disclosed that he has hacked the server of the Clinton Foundation and “downloaded hundreds of thousands of docs and donors’ databases.”
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“Hillary Clinton and her staff don’t even bother about the information security. It was just a matter of time to gain access to the Clinton Foundation server,” the post read.
The Romanian native hacker Guccifer 2.0 has denied that he has any association with the Russian government and has claimed that he has the entire database of donors associated with the Clinton Foundation. In fact, the hacker also posted the list of master donors on his website.
As per the hacker, he has information about over a thousand Hillary donors and noted that:
“It looks like big banks and corporations agreed to donate to the Democrats a certain percentage of the allocated TARP funds.”
Furthermore, the hacker also informed Julian Assange in his post and stated that:
“P.S. I’m pleased to congratulate Wikileaks on their 10th anniversary!!!, Julian, you are really cool! Stay safe and sound!”
The most dangerous part of the post was the root directory snapshot that showed a folder with the name “Pay to Play.” This folder has critically important details about the Pay to Play feature and could be quite damning for Clintons if the revelation turns out to be true. Guccifer 2.0 claimed that he has gained access to hundreds of thousands of other files but he cannot post all of the databases because of them being too large. Guccifer 2.0 noted that he was “looking for a better way to release them now.”
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The presence of Pay to Play folder is rather alarming and requires a bit more probe because the way Guccifer 2.0 is revealing details about the Clinton Foundation, the organization has started appearing like a channel for wealthy donors to acquire kickbacks, that is, Pay to Play. On the other hand, the presence of an entire folder containing a massive number of files with the title Pay to Play in the foundation’s servers makes us point fingers at the legitimacy of the claims Guccifer 2.0 is making. After all, no one would be so stupid to create a folder of something that is required to remain discreet.
Is it a real hack or phony?
Experts have noted that some files that are shown in the exposed data seem to be related to the DNCC and not the Clinton Foundation. The foundation’s president Donna Shalala rejected the claim of the hacker and stated clearly that there has not been any hack attack and the folders do not belong to the organization. In fact, MotherBoard said hacker’s latest alleged feat appears to be a complete lie.
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https://twitter.com/DonnaShalala/status/783414514259636224
Tony Gauda, CEO of Palo Alto-based security company ThinAir:
“The public outrage caused by the news of data leaks – whether fabricated or not – points to the dangerous ramifications of cyber attacks on the American election process. This is the first election where merely the threat of leaking data stolen by cyber criminals, let alone the action itself, is being used as a political instrument. Unless we rethink how we approach information security, it won’t be the last.
The security community has already seen an escalation in targeted attacks coming from state and non-state actors over the last year, and we have no reason to expect a slowdown. If we want to stand a chance of winning this fight, we need more innovative technologies and deeper collaboration between the public and private sectors to ensure sensitive information will always be protected, especially in the event of an attack. Malicious actors will continue to develop new and creative ways to exfiltrate data, so we need the best minds in InfoSec working in conjunction with one another if we are going to reach a solution.”
