As if the National Rifle Association doesn’t have enough problems, a Russian hacker group has allegedly penetrated the association’s systems and stolen some documents, possibly including emails. They have published a handful of them, primarily innocuous grant-related documents. Unless the NRA coughs up a ransom payment, the group says they will release more.
NBC News has fessed up to downloading the allegedly purloined files from the nation’s oldest civil rights organization. So far, it sounds like all the hackers have gotten their hands on is some pretty mundane stuff.
From NBC News.
A notorious Russian cybercriminal group has posted what appear to be National Rifle Association files to the dark web.
The group, known as Grief, posted 13 files to its website Wednesday and claimed to have hacked the NRA. It is threatening to release more of the files if not paid, though it did not publicly state how much.
Like many ransomware gangs, Grief often posts a handful files stolen from a victim in an efforts to spur a ransom payment…
The NRA didn’t respond when reached for comment. It did, however, post a tweet saying that “does not discuss matters relating to its physical or electronic security,” and that the organization “takes extraordinary measures to protect information regarding its members, donors, and operations.”
“NRA does not discuss matters relating to its physical or electronic security. However, the NRA takes extraordinary measures to protect information regarding its members, donors, and operations – and is vigilant in doing so.”–Andrew Arulanandam, managing dir., NRA Public Affairs
— NRA (@NRA) October 27, 2021
Most of the files viewed by NBC News relate to NRA grants. They include blank grant proposal forms, a list of recent grant recipients, an email to a recent grant winner earlier this month, as well as a W-9 form. The leak also includes the minutes from a Sept. 24 NRA teleconference meeting.
Whether or not the hacker group has actually has obtained sensitive files, we can all rest easy knowing the Biden administration Department of Justice will no doubt have an entire team of FBI and National Security Agents operatives on this case. Just as soon as they’re finished with their nationwide investigation into parents attending school board meetings.
