(Cyberwar.news) While politicos from both sides of the ideological divide debate the issues surrounding FBI Director James Comey’s recent announcement that the bureau would not recommend any criminal charges against presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton over her “careless” use of private email servers to conduct classified State Department business, he nevertheless made one thing clear: Her servers were “likely” hacked by state and non-state actors.
Following an extensive investigation, FBI investigators found evidence that foreign government hackers accessed private emails sent by then-Secretary of State Clinton, though the director said no direct evidence that spies hacked into several unsecured servers she used was discovered.
As reported by The Washington Free Beacon, Comey said Tuesday the 11-month investigation revealed negligent handling of extremely sensitive classified information placed on one or all four of the private servers Clinton used between 2009 and 2013, her tenure as secretary of state.
In what was an unusual public announcement of his decision, Comey said investigators found signs that “hostile actors” were able to access email accounts of associates and aides of Clinton who shared emails with her. While Comey said investigators could find no clear evidence that Clinton and her aides intended to violate laws governing the handling of classified materials, “there is evidence that they were extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information.”
“Although there is evidence of potential violation of the statutes regarding the handling of classified information, our judgment is that no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case,” Comey added.
As for the foreign counterintelligence aspect of the case, the FBI director said that his investigators found no “direct evidence” that foreign state hackers got access to Clinton’s private servers. But advanced state hackers like those from Russia, China or North Korea, would likely not leave any trace, Comey said.
“We do assess that hostile actors gained access to the private commercial email accounts of people with whom Secretary Clinton was in regular contact from her personal account,” Comey said, without elaborating or identifying the people in question.
Former CIA Director Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden said he would be surprised if no foreign country hacked Clinton’s unsecured servers.
“I would lose respect for any serious intelligence agency on this planet if they had not accessed the emails on the server,” said Hayden, also a former director of the NSA.
More:
- Revealed: Hillary Clinton’s Private Email Servers Were Wide Open To Hacking From China, Korea And Germany
- More Than 1,200 Emails From Hillary Clinton’s Personal Server Now Deemed Classified
- U.S. Intelligence: Foreign Hackers Are Spying On Political Campaigns
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