National Republican Congressional Committee Reportedly Hit by ‘Major Hack’ Earlier This Year

In the middle of campaign season this year, the National Republican Congressional Committee was hit by a serious hack.

Politico broke the news this afternoon, and a firm the NRCC brought on to help with the response said in a statement, “The NRCC can confirm that it was the victim of a cyber intrusion by an unknown entity. The cybersecurity of the Committee’s data is paramount, and upon learning of the intrusion, the NRCC immediately launched an internal investigation and notified the FBI, which is now investigating the matter.”

Thousands of emails from senior NRCC aides were exposed to the hacker or hackers, but as Politico notes, senior House Republicans like Paul Ryan and Kevin McCarthy were apparently unaware of the hack until they reached out to them with questions:

Committee officials said they decided to withhold the information because they were intent on conducting their own investigation, and feared that revealing the hack would compromise efforts to find the culprit.

“We don’t want to get into details about what was taken because it’s an ongoing investigation,” said a senior party official. “Let’s say they had access to four active accounts. I think you can draw from that.”

Party officials believe the hack came from a “foreign agent,” also telling Politico they have also said none of the information accessed has been made public.

[image via the NRCC]

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