If only the FBI was this good at tracking terrorists.
Via The Smoking Gun:
The broad spear phishing campaign targeting the e-mail accounts of Hillary Clinton campaign officials has yielded hackers a wide assortment of internal memos and other communications, according to documents provided to The Smoking Gun.
The attack–which investigators believe is a Russian government operation–has recently focused on the Gmail accounts of scores of Hillary for America staffers, according to SecureWorks, a research firm that published its findings earlier this month.
The firm contends that the hacking campaign has targeted “individuals managing Clinton’s communications, travel, campaign finances, and advising her on policy.” The assault, which reportedly began in mid-March, relied on a spoofed Gmail log-in page in an attempt to deceive victims.
That gambit tricked at least one Clinton volunteer, Sarah Hamilton, records show. Hamilton’s Gmail account appears to have been breached in late-March and hackers copied a large swath of campaign e-mails, memos, and documents. Hamilton, former spokesperson for Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, has aided the Clinton campaign’s press operation. Contacted today, Hamilton declined comment on the hack. […]
In a series of e-mails, members of the ropeline platoon reported on the movement of journalists, especially Dan Merica, a CNN producer covering the Clinton campaign.
After an advance staffer wrote to report that an aggressive French journalist was “at stage right,” the Merica tracking kicked in.
“Watch out for Dan Merica center right,” a press aide warned. Eight minutes later, an advance team member wrote, “Dan Merica stage left.” A minute later Hamilton advised colleagues, “French journos and dan merica heading to stage right.” Moments later, a new Merica update came from an advance team member: “Dan America is on backstage bleachers.” Less than a minute later, the staffer gave an update: “I’m with dan America on back stage bleachers.”
It appears Merica was being secretly tracked by campaign workers concerned that the CNN employee might detonate a question if he got too close to any of the Clintons.
When Clinton visited Chicago in mid-March, the local press pool included Lynn Sweet, the Washington, D.C. bureau chief for the Chicago Sun-Times. In an e-mail to Hamilton (“Subject: Lynn Sweet”), campaign traveling press secretary Nick Merrill advised, “Let’s keep an eye on her.” Hamilton immediately replied, “Yes. I’m sitting next to her on the bus.”