Russia attempted to hack the DNC again after the 2018 Midterms, claim Democrats

New court documents filed by the Democratic National Committee unveiled a previously unknown infiltration attempt by Russian hackers.

“On November 14, 2018, dozens of DNC email addresses were targeted in a spearphishing campaign,” claim the DNC in the documents, which were filed on Thursday night. “The content of these emails and their timestamps were consistent with a spearphishing campaign that leading cybersecurity experts have tied to Cozy Bear (APT 29).”

Cozy Bear is the Russian intelligence agency-linked hacker group that infiltrated the DNC during the 2016 presidential elections.

The DNC says there is no evidence that the group was successful in the attempt, which was made one week after the 2018 Midterms.

According to a senior Democratic Party source who spoke with CNN, the hackers attempted to gain access to DNC computers through an email PDF attachment while impersonating a State Department official. DNC officials cite a larger Cozy Bear hacking attempt that was uncovered by cybersecurity firm FireEye last year. That similar Russia-linked campaign targeted law enforcement, think tanks, media, U.S. military, and national government officials on the same day the DNC attempt was made.

“Therefore, it is probable that Cozy Bear again attempted to unlawfully infiltrate DNC computers in November 2018,” according to the DNC filings.

The recently filed court documents are part of the DNC’s civil lawsuit against President Donald Trump, his campaign, Wikileaks, the Russian government, and others.

Government officials, cybersecurity experts, and major tech companies are still unpacking the attempts by Russia to hack and influence U.S. elections in 2016. In July 2018, Special Counsel Robert Mueller indicted 12 Russian intelligence agency officials for their role in the 2016 DNC hacks.

Aside from a few early attempts on three candidates’ staffers, Russia was notably absent in the run-up to the 2018 Midterm elections. Clearly, though, Russian hackers have not given up.