Russian hackers allegedly infiltrate White House

Russian hackers were able to reach sensitive, if unclassified, information from the White House computer system after intruding at the US State Department in the past few months, accessing non-public details of President Obama's schedule, among other things.

According to CNN, who spoke to officials briefed on the investigation, the report from the State Department refers to a series of incidents beginning last October, when suspicious activity became apparent in a "network that serves the executive office of the president."

The FBI, Secret Service, and NSA were all involved in the investigation. The White House went to lengths to stress that the system breached by the hackers was "an unclassified system…we do not believe that our classified systems were compromised" and refused to comment on CNN's assertion that Russian hackers were behind the incident.

As CNN explains, even if the system is not top secret, information like the private details of the President's schedule is sensitive information sought by foreign intelligence agencies. The hackers allegedly permeated the network using an email address as the jumping-off point for the infiltration.

es/ (dpa, Reuters)