DNC Accuses Russia-Linked Hackers Of Targeting Them During Midterm Election - Court Filing

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 19th January, 2019) The Democratic National Committee (DNC) has filed a new legal complaint alleging that Russian-linked hackers targeted them during the 2018 US midterm elections as part of a spear-phishing campaign, a newly filed court document revealed.

"In November 2018, dozens of DNC email addresses were targeted in a spear-phishing campaign, although there is no evidence that the attack was successful," said the document filed on Friday. "The content of these emails and their timestamps were consistent with a spear-phishing campaign that leading cybersecurity experts have tied to Russian intelligence."

The court filing is part of an ongoing multi-million Dollar lawsuit launched by the DNC last year against the Russian Federation, WikiLeaks, the Trump campaign, and several senior Trump administration officials. In Friday's court filing, the DNC amended its 2018 complaint to include the new accusations related to the most recent US election.

In the amended complaint, the DNC alleges that the November 2018 hacking incident shows that Russian intelligence again tried to infiltrate the party's computers.

Moreover, it argues that Russia committed cybercrimes leading up to the midterm elections and accuses Moscow of trying in August 2017 to hack into the network of a Democratic senator and longtime critic of US President Trump, WikiLeaks and the Kremlin. It also alleges that Russia tried to hack the networks of two other midterm election candidates.

Russian officials have repeatedly denied meddling in the US election, saying the allegations were invented to excuse the election loss of a presidential candidate as well as deflect public attention from actual instances of election fraud and corruption. Trump has also repeatedly denied any collusion with Russia, calling an ongoing investigation into the allegations a political witch hunt that has not produced evidence in two years.