obama/mccain computers hacked for policy information?

[jackulator]

what do you guys make of this?

From CNN Senior Producer Kevin Bohn and CNN Correspondent Brian Todd

     
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Computers at the headquarters of the Barack Obama and John McCain campaigns were hacked during the campaign by a foreign entity looking for future policy information, a source with knowledge of the incidents confirms to CNN.

Workers at Barack Obama's headquarters first thought there was a computer virus.

The source said the computers were hacked mid-summer by either a foreign government or organization.

Another source, a law enforcement official familiar with the investigation, says federal investigators approached both campaigns with information the U.S. government had about the hacking, and the campaigns then hired private companies to mitigate the problem.

U.S. authorities, according to one of the sources, believe they know who the foreign entity responsible for the hacking is, but refused to identify it in any way, including what country.

The source, confirming the attacks that were first reported by Newsweek, said the sophisticated intrusions appeared aimed at gaining information about the evolution of policy positions in order to gain leverage in future dealings with whomever was elected.

The FBI is investigating, one of the sources confirmed to CNN. The FBI and Secret Service refused comment on the incidents.

The sources refused to speak on the record due to the ongoing investigation and also because it is a sensitive matter involving presidential politics.

As described by a Newsweek reporter with special access while working on a post-campaign special, workers in Obama's headquarters first detected what they thought was a computer virus that was trying to obtain users' personal information.

The next day, agents from the FBI and Secret Service came to the office and said, "You have a problem way bigger than what you understand ... you have been compromised, and a serious amount of files have been loaded off your system."

One of the sources told CNN the hacking into the McCain campaign computers occurred around the same time as the breach into those of Obama's campaign.

Representatives of the campaigns could not be reached for comment on the matter.

[Dr.Martini]

What kind of information did they get? Could they steal peoples identities with it?

If so it was probably people planning on selling them or use them to make money that did it. 

[jackulator]

the article says based on what was downloaded that whoever was doing it was likely looking for more information on each candidate's position on various policies so as to get an early start on how to position themselves in the future

I guess the real issue is who was downloading the information - without knowing that it's hard to speculate the exact reason for the hacking or how it could affect us going forward

[mari]

I really don't see the point in this, and whoever is responsible for this, if caught, is going to be in some very deep shit.
Information not given out to the public is a big deal, so who knows what these hackers plan to do with it. They probably just thought of it as a challenge and have no real motive for using any of the files.