WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 23: U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton testifies before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Capitol Hill January 23, 2013 in Washington, DC. Lawmakers questioned Clinton about the security failures during the September 11 attacks against the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya, that led to the death of four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens. Credit: Getty Images
A hacker, known only as "Guccifer," has reportedly distributed confidential memos that were sent to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and dealt with various developments in Libya, including the Benghazi terrorist attack. The hacker has apparently sent four of the recent memos to congressional aides, politicians and journalists across the globe, the Smoking Gun reports.
It was over the weekend that the hacker reportedly distributed the memos, which were sent to Clinton by one of her longtime confidants and former White House aide, Sidney Blumenthal. His AOL email account was hacked last week. One memo, sent to Clinton on Sept. 12, was labeled "Confidential."
The Smoking Gun has more details:
The hacker’s e-mails went to hundreds of recipients, though the distribution lists were dotted with addresses for aides to Senate and House members who are no longer in office. But many of the addresses to which the Blumenthal memos were sent are good (though it is unclear whether karl@rove.com is a solid address for the Republican mastermind).Most of the e-mail recipients were sent four separate memos that were e-mailed to Clinton by Blumenthal during the past five months. Each memo dealt with assorted developments in Libya, including the September 11, 2012 attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi. One memo marked “Confidential” was sent to Clinton on September 12.
As TSG reported last week, after Blumenthal’s e-mail account was compromised, the hacker searched it for e-mails sent to Clinton, and further sorted the mail to segregate any attachment--like Word files--that were included in Blumenthal’s correspondence to Clinton. Many of these pilfered documents were memos to Clinton on foreign policy and intelligence matters.
In another stunning twist, the emails disseminated by "Guccifer" over the weekend appear to have been sent from the hacked AOL account of an unidentified Hollywood actor's wife. The hacker has apparently has used similar tactics in the past to shield his or her identity.
What exactly is revealed in the confidential memos remains a mystery. The Smoking Gun did not divulge any of the information included in the correspondence, however, the site did provide a screengrab of one of the hacked emails:
(The Smoking Gun)
Additionally, authorities don't know where "Guccifer" is currently located. While several of the IP addresses associated with the hacker have reportedly been traced to the Russian Federation, it could be a dead end as hackers regularly hide their tracks using proxies, IP spoofing and various identity-concealing software.
The hacker "did show some familiarity with the Russian media in Saturday’s e-mail blast. While the majority of the journalists to whom he sent the Blumenthal memos are based in the U.S., 'Guccifer' also sent the documents (in a separate e-mail) to about two dozen reporters working for Russian outlets like Pravda, the Moscow Times, The St. Petersburg Times, and the RT news channel," according to the Smoking Gun.
(H/T: Drudge)
Featured image via AFP/Getty
