Russians may have hacked conservative foundation: Report

The hackers stole documents from the foundation and posted them online, the report said.

It is unclear what the hacker or hackers’ motives or intentions were, although they evidently tried to hide the Russian involvement. The purloined files were distributed via a Twitter site named “Anonymous Poland.” The site has not posted since November.

An investigation by the Journal Sentinel reported that “Experts in cyber security point to evidence that the theft … was likely the work of Russian hackers.”

The newspaper noted that “Anonymous Poland” posted three letters purporting to show that Cynthia Friauf, Bradley’s vice president of finance, directed $156 million to Clinton’s campaign. The letters were fairly obvious frauds given the foundation’s conservative stance and the fact that such a staggering donation would not go unnoticed during a presidential campaign.

The hacker posted thousands of other internal documents, which the Milwaukee-based foundation confirmed as accurate to the Journal Sentinel. The documents show that the foundation, which is well-known as a funder of conservative causes and issues, had devoted $13 million to funding out of state conservative groups from 2011-2015.

The Russia connection was suggested by the fact that Anonymous Poland was also involved in a hacking of the World Anti-Doping Agency, which had called for the expulsion of Russian athletes from the 2016 Rio Olympics. The hackers also reportedly targeted the Ukrainian government, which Russia has had territorial disputes with.

Wapack Labs Corp., a New Hampshire security firm that analyzed the Olympic-related hacking, determined that Anonymous Poland was actually Russian based on its the hacker’s browser history, which “showed visits to Google’s Russian site, not its Polish one.”

The Bradley Foundation contacted the FBI after the hack and also hired its own experts to conduct an investigation. Neither reached a firm conclusion on who was behind the hack.