It has been discovered that private information belonging to thousands of workers affiliated with politicians across the United States has been exposed on the dark web.
Proton, an organization that recently announced its transition to a non-profit entity, collaborated with Constella Intelligence on a study. This study revealed that confidential data of political leaders from various countries is being sold on dark web marketplaces.
This latest update expands on a previous investigation by Proton and Constella, which found tens of thousands of leaked credentials belonging to politicians from the European Union, France, and the United Kingdom. This time, both organizations scanned the emails of over 16,000 politically affiliated individuals, uncovering that more than 3,000 (about 20%) had their information floating on the dark web.
Around 1% of the analyzed cases, or nearly 300 email addresses, appeared in more than 10 data breaches. In addition to email addresses, the IP addresses of some employees were also leaked. Many of these employees hold high-ranking positions and handle classified information under security clearances.
Proton clarified that they did not include email addresses of elected politicians, as this information was not publicly available. However, they suggested that these addresses might have been indirectly leaked in email chains involving staff members whose information was compromised. Additionally, more than 1,900 passwords of staff members were found exposed in plain text.
With access to these passwords, hackers could carry out coordinated attacks and large-scale espionage operations, which is a major concern as the U.S. prepares for its 60th presidential election in just six weeks.
Proton’s findings indicate that one common method for data leakage was through third-party services using official email addresses. It was discovered that several employees used their official emails to create accounts on platforms like Adobe Creative Cloud. Moreover, more than 2,000 social media profiles linked to these email addresses were found, including platforms like LinkedIn, X (formerly Twitter), and Facebook, with their passwords exposed in databases found on the dark web.
Hackers targeting politicians
Proton’s findings come just months after Senator Lindsey Graham reported being the target of a phishing attempt. They also come nearly a year after state-backed Vietnamese hackers attempted to spy on U.S. members of Congress, political staff, and journalists.
During the 2020 U.S. presidential election, a series of coordinated cyberattacks orchestrated by Russian agencies were discovered. These attacks targeted several federal agencies, including the Departments of Treasury, Commerce, and Homeland Security, and affected thousands of government officials.
More recently, it was confirmed that several key officials in Donald Trump’s latest presidential campaign were targeted by sophisticated spear phishing attacks.
Nestor Castillo, ForAllTechNews Director