Russian hackers are among the most active participants in modern cyber warfare. Though many states actively use hacking in their arsenal, the Russian hacking campaigns have a notable character in both modus operandi and technical footprints.
The Timeline
September 2015
FBI attempts to notify the Democratic National Committee of alleged hacking into their system by APT28
Late April 2016
Amy Dacey of the DNC is notified of potential malicious activity
June 14, 2016
Russian government hackers penetrated DNC, stole opposition research on Trump
Washington Post’s Ellen Nakashima breaks the news that the DNC has been hacked by Russian hackers.
June 15, 2016
Dmitri Alperovitch publishes Bears in the Midst: Intrusion into the Democratic National Committee an examination of the DNC breech assessed
June 15, 2016
A wordpress blog under the name Guccifer 2.0 appears after the Crowdstrike report claiming that the DNC was hacked by a “lone hacker”
June 18, 2016
Guccifer 2.0 page releases DNC financial reports
June 21, 2016
Guccifer 2.0 releases more documents with “dossier on Hillary Clinton”
June 30, 2016
Guccifer 2.0 releases an FAQ with personal background.
July 14. 2016
Guccifer 2.0 releases more DNC documents
July 22, 2016
Wikileaks releases 19252 stolen DNC emails. “Communications Director Luis Miranda (10,770 emails), National Finance Director Jordon Kaplan (3,797 emails), Finance Chief of Staff Scott Comer and others. The newly released emails cover the period from January 2015 through May 25, 2016”
July 24, 2016
In the wake of email releases, Debbie Wasserman Shultz resigns as DNC chair
July 25, 2016
The FBI confirms the DNC had been hacked and an investigation had been opened.
July 27, 2016
Donald Trump:
“By the way, if they hacked, they probably have her 33,000 emails. I hope they do. They probably have her 33,000 emails that she lost and deleted.”
“Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing.”
August 12, 2016
Guccifer 2.0 released DCCC documents
August 13, 2016
Wordpress blocks doc release on Guccifer 2.0
August 15, 2016
Guccifer 2.0 releases DCCC documents on Florida Primaries
August 21, 2916
Guccifer 2.0 releases DCCC documents on Pennsylvania
August 31, 2016
Guccifer 2.0 releases files alleged to belong to Nancy Pelosi
September 15, 2016
Guccifer 2.0 releases documents on New Hampshire, Ohio, Illinois, North Carolina
September 23, 2016
Guccifer 2.0 releases dossier on Ben Ray Lujan, DCCC chairman
October 4, 2016
Guccifer 2.0 falsely claims to have hacked the Clinton Foundation. Evidence shows the documents were from the DCCC batch
October 6, 2016
DC Leaks appears and releases more DNC emails
October 7, 2016
Wikileaks begins releasing Podesta emails
October 7, 2016
Office of the Director of National Intelligence and Department of Homeland Security release joint statement attributing hacking and document dumps to the Russian Government
October 9, 2016
Donald Trump casts doubt on Russian hacking claiming “maybe there is no hacking”
November 4, 2016
Guccifer 2.0 claims the FEC networks are vulnerable to election rigging
November 7, 2016
Wikileaks dumps more DNC emails day before US Election
December 9, 2016
President Barack Obama states the intelligence community will have a review ready before end of his term.
December 9, 2016
The CIA states the hack was carried out to help elect Donald Trump
New York Times claims The Republican National Committee was hacked
January 12, 2017
Guccifer 2.0 last post taunts U.S. intelligence agencies