Remember When Republicans Mocked The DNC Hack? Russia Hacked The RNC Last Week

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Last updated on July 9th, 2021 at 07:52 am

In 2016, Republicans mocked the hack of the DNC, but last week, the Russian government hacked the RNC.

Russian government hackers breached the computer systems of the Republican National Committee last week, around the time a Russia-linked criminal group unleashed a massive ransomware attack, according to two people familiar with the matter.

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The government hackers were part of a group known as APT 29 or Cozy Bear, according to the people. That group has been tied to Russia’s foreign intelligence service and has previously been accused of breaching the Democratic National Committee in 2016 and of carrying out a supply-chain cyberattack involving SolarWinds Corp., which infiltrated nine U.S. government agencies and was disclosed in December.

The RNC has issued a denial that they were attacked. Instead, they said that their IT provider was attacked, and RNC denies that anything was stolen.

Here is a 2016 ABC News report about Trump mocking the DNC:

What MightThe Russians Want From The RNC?

If the DNC hack is any indication, the Russians could be very interested in strategy documents and voter lists. The Russians may have also breached the RNC to stir up more division in the United States.

Either way, all of that Republican mocking and crowing about their safe systems that Russians couldn’t get into has been thrown out the window. The Russians did not hack the RNC in 2016, but they appear to have done so in 2021.

The big question that we may not have an answer to until the 2022 election is why.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association