EXCLUSIVE: Cybersecurity experts who were first to conclude that Putin hacked presidential election ABANDON some of their claims against Russia – and refuse to co-operate with Congress
Claims of Russian interference in the presidential election through hacking Democratic emails have been long-running scandal
First link between hacking and Vladimir Putin was made by CrowdStrike, Irvine, CA, based firm hired by the Democratic National Committee
It concluded in June 2016 Moscow spies had hacked DNC – before embarrassing emails were published – setting off Russian election scandal
Cybersecurity firm examined DNC’s servers, something FBI was not allowed to do, and its conclusion has been repeated by the intelligence community
DailyMail.com reveals it has had to abandon key claims in another report on hacking by same Russians it blamed for DNC attack
It used unproven claims by a pro-Putin blogger to wrongly conclude Russian hackers had helped to virtually wipe out Ukrainian artillery
CrowdStrike is also refusing to testify in public to the House Intelligence Committee on what it knows and declined to speak to DailyMail.com
By ALANA GOODMAN
DAILYMAIL.COM
5 April 2017
It was an explosive conclusion which cast a pall over the entire election: that the Kremlin was behind a hack of the Democratic National Committee which resulted in its embarrassing secrets being published.
First made in June 2016, it has overshadowed the election, transition and now presidency of Donald Trump.
And the FBI, CIA, NSA and 12 other intelligence agencies published an unprecedented joint report saying the Vladimir Putin ordered a hacking campaign to tip the election against Hillary Clinton.
But now the first expert company to make a link between the DNC hacks and the Kremlin is facing a damaging series of questions over its credibility, DailyMail.com can disclose.
Cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike has had to retract portions of a report supporting its allegations of Russian cyberattacks – and is also refusing to address Congress about its findings on Moscow’s election hacking.
CrowdStrike was hired by the Democratic National Committee to investigate suspicious network activity last May. In June it declared that the committee had been hacked by the Russian government, starting a firestorm over the campaign.
CrowdStrike, based in Irvine, California, is also the only group that the DNC allowed to directly examine its servers.
Not even the FBI has been granted access to the servers.
U.S. agencies have instead relied on CrowdStrike’s work. There is no other known forensic evidence which has been publicly disclosed to link the Kremlin to the attacks, including in a series of intelligence community statements and reports.
The Rest…HERE
