The State Department said it would be “deeply concerning” if the Democratic National Committee was the subject of a Russian cyberattack, as the DNC claimed on Tuesday.
“I don’t have any directly knowledge about this case,” State Department spokesman John Kirby said. “But obviously they’re concerning, and if they’re true, it would be a deep concern.”
“Sure, that would be deeply concerning to us if it’s true,” he said.
The DNC confirmed it is true earlier Tuesday, and said that among other things, hackers stole the DNC’s opposition research file on Donald Trump. The hackers were linked to the Russian military intelligence service GRU.
The DNC also said Russian hackers have been trolling the DNC systems for a year. However, Kirby indicated that the State Department has yet to contact Russia about the incident.
“I’m not aware of any conversations that have happened,” he said. “I can only speak for the State Department, I don’t have any conversations or communications to read out with respect to these reports.”
But he did say the government routinely raises cyberissues when they meet with other countries.
“The U.S. government is the subject of countless cyberintrusions and attacks every day, from all kinds of places, and it’s a concern that we take very, very seriously,” he said. “And it’s a concern, frankly, that we raise internationally, all the time, with other countries as we deal with them.”
