President Donald’s Trump reelection campaign took a significant hit in Wisconsin last week, a $2.3 million hit to be more precise. The Wisconsin Republican Party revealed on Thursday that it fell victim to a cyberattack, with hackers stealing millions in funds dedicated to Trump's reelection campaign in the battleground state. And with the elections just a few days away, the blow of losing millions of dollars in campaigning money could tip the scale in Democratic nominee Joe Biden’s favor. However, Wisconsin GOP Chairman Andrew Hitt revealed the operation is running at “full capacity.”
Commenting on the incident, Hitt told The Associated Press that hackers used an advanced phishing attack to steal funds, fake invoices, and commit wire fraud. “These criminals exhibited a level of familiarity with state party operations at the end of the campaign to commit this crime,” expressed Hitt. They knew about the entities that the party had partnered with, allowing them to forge invoices and subsequently receive money instead of the vendors.
The Wisconsin GOP’s partners were in charge of sending campaign mail and making hats for Trump supporters. The party first noticed it was under cyberattack on October 22 and notified the FBI on October 23. It does not believe that the criminals put their hands on any data during the incident.
Hitt said the FBI was investigating the matter, although the Federal Bureau of Investigation refused to confirm or deny that fact, as per policy. Also, the Wisconsin Department of Justice was not asked to investigate, according to spokeswoman Rebecca Ballweg. President Trump won the state by less than 23,000 votes in 2016 and was planning his third visit on Friday. His rival Biden also planned to campaign there on the same day. This term, though, it looks like it’s going to be much tighter, with most polls showing a slight, single-digit advantage to Biden.
Hitt also revealed that the Republican National Convention warned state parties to remain vigilant in case of cybercrime, adding that he doesn't know if a similar attack targeted any other state GOP.
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