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Justice Dept. investigating cyberattack against Clinton campaign, reports say

The breach reportedly accessed a voter information database used by the Hillary Clinton campaign.

By Doug G. Ware
Hillary Clinton formally accepts the Democratic Party's nomination for president on day four of the Democratic National Convention at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Thursday. News reports Friday said the FBI is investigating a cyberattack against a computer network containing voter information that is used by Clinton's campaign. Photo by Leigh Vogel/UPI
Hillary Clinton formally accepts the Democratic Party's nomination for president on day four of the Democratic National Convention at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Thursday. News reports Friday said the FBI is investigating a cyberattack against a computer network containing voter information that is used by Clinton's campaign. Photo by Leigh Vogel/UPI | License Photo

WASHINGTON, July 29 (UPI) -- The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating yet another reported cyberattack committed against a Democratic Party affiliate -- this time, the campaign of presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

Law enforcement officials close to the matter confirmed the investigation Friday, according to various news reports. The FBI is trying to determine if the reported attack posed a threat to national security, Fox News reported Friday.

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A Clinton spokesman said the hack targeted the campaign's computer network, but investigators weren't initially certain about the scope or nature of the breach.

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The campaign's cyberattack is the third recently to target the American Democratic Party. Two others, against the Democratic National Committee and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, are believed to have been orchestrated by Russian hackers.

The DNC hack earlier this year compromised the security of party emails -- and may have resulted in last week's leak of messages concerning the White House bids of Clinton and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

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The FBI is still trying to make that connection, but officials said last week that the attack was likely carried out in behalf of Russian intelligence.

Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook said that hack was performed by "Russian state actors" as a way to help GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump.

The breach of a network belonging to the DCCC, a fundraising organization for Democrats in Congress, was also announced Friday. The Washington Post reported earlier that those hackers were also traced to Russia.

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Clinton's campaign said Friday that the new hack targeted a data network it and several other groups use regularly.

"An analytics data program maintained by the DNC, and used by our campaign and a number of other entities, was accessed as part of the DNC hack," Clinton campaign spokesman Nick Merrill said in a statement Friday. "Our campaign computer system has been under review by outside cyber security experts. To date, they have found no evidence that our internal systems have been compromised."

CNN reported that the compromised network contains dynamic voter data.

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Authorities are working to determine if there are any connections among the three cyberattacks that targeted Democrats.

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