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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Kenneth V. McNutt who wrote (643900)	10/13/2004 1:23:50 PM
From: Mr. Palau	Respond to of 769670

Bad stuff allright. "FBI probes possible computer breach By: BRIAN CALLAWAY (Fri, Oct/01/2004) The Federal Bureau of Investigation is looking into a report from Democratic congressional candidate Ginny Schrader's campaign that someone might have attempted to hack into one of its computers. Security software installed on the computer alerted staffers to the possible breach, campaign officials said, and they reported the incident to the FBI. Brian Smoot, Schrader's campaign manager, said the computer had things like research and fund-raising information on it, and called the hacking an "extremely serious" security concern. "I would assume that it's for political purposes," he said. "Why else would they hack into our computers?" He said the campaign hasn't been able to determine whether any files were accessed. The McAfee security system that reported the breach Tuesday afternoon listed Virginia-based political consulting firm Campaign Solutions and one of the company's staffers - the employee's name was misspelled in the report - as the source of the alleged hacking attempt. But Becki Donatelli, Campaign Solutions' president, said her company wasn't responsible. "We know nothing about this; we've had nothing to do with it," she said. Smoot declined to say whether he thought it was possible that a hacker had made it look as if Campaign Solutions was responsible for the breach. "I can't really comment on that," he said. "All the information we have is what our software gave us." Donatelli said she'd also called the Schrader campaign to proclaim her firm's innocence, and was the one who suggested the FBI be contacted. She declined to answer further questions. Campaign Solutions describes itself as a "Republican voter contact and communications firm" on its Web site, and lists several big-time GOP organizations or candidates as clients, including the Bush-Cheney campaign, the Republican National Committee and the Pennsylvania House Republican Committee. But Schrader's Republican opponent, Bucks County Commissioner Mike Fitzpatrick, is not listed as a client. And Jim Cawley, Fitzpatrick's campaign manager, said his campaign knew nothing about the incident. "This is, by no means, anything that we would (condone)," he said. He also said that Fitzpatrick's campaign had had no contact with Campaign Solutions. Jerri Williams, a spokeswoman at the FBI's Philadelphia office, said only that the incident had been reported and that agents were working on an "initial review" of the case. She said it was too soon to say whether any laws had been broken. Schrader campaign staffers said Wednesday they were updating security software on their computers. Schrader and Fitzpatrick are each seeking to succeed retiring GOP Congressman Jim Greenwood in the 8th Congressional District, which includes Bucks County and small parts of Philadelphia and Montgomery County. Brian Callaway can be reached at (215) 345-3060 or bcallaway@phillyBurbs.com. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Article's URL: phillyburbs.com