Only two months after the personal email account of CIA director John Brennan was hacked, a pro-Palestinian hacker group succeeded at breaching the firewalls of the personal email address of Director of National Intelligence (DNI) James Clapper.
Clapper's personal email account as well as others connected to his were hacked recently, as revealed in a report first published by a website known as Motherboard and then picked up by AP, which cited an official from within the intelligence community.
The group announced that personal emails, telephone conversations, as well as other correspondences were in its possession.
The group of hackers calling themselves “Crackas With Attitude” or CWA, is the same group that had attacked Brennan’s account. The hackers claimed that officials were not aware of the attack.
According to the AP, however, DNI spokesman Brian Hale said the incident was known about before Motherboard's report was published, and that the proper authorities have been notified of the situation.
The hackers claimed that they gained access to a variety of Clapper’s accounts, including his home telephone, internet, his personal email, and his wife’s Yahoo email. Having gained control of Clapper’s Verizon account, the group claimed to have changed the settings so that every call to his house number would get forwarded to the Free Palestine Movement.
When they gained notoriety last year, the CWA claimed their actions were all in support of the Palestinian cause.
The group contacted a journalist for the website Motherboard, and claimed responsibility for the hacking attack. During the conversation, and via the group’s twitter feed, the hacker stated that the reason behind the attack was to let the government of the United States know that people don’t agree with it’s position regarding Palestine.
"'You asked why I did it,' Cracka said. 'I just wanted the gov to know people aren’t f***ing around, people know what they're doing and people don’t agree #FreePalestine,'" reported Motherboard website.