Chinese hackers stole confidential 2008 presidential campaign email and documents, say officials

Over the past year, reports have circulated of widespread cyberattacks, based in China, against American corporate, media, and infrastructure targets. Now it’s being learned that cyberespionage efforts extended to the 2008 US presidential election, and appear to have been backed by the Chinese government, according to former Obama national intelligence chief Dennis Blair.

The disclosure was made the day before President Obama and Prime Minister Xi Jinping meet this weekend at the Sunnylands estate in California, writes NBC News. The hacking is reported to have focused on the Obama and McCain camps’ respective stances on China, and exfiltrated large amounts of internal data including position papers and private emails.

NBC points out that Obama previously disclosed the attacks in loose terms in 2009, saying that "hackers gained access to emails and a range of campaign files," without divulging where the attacks originated. The efforts to access confidential data were reportedly sustained for months after an email phishing attack gave the hackers access to party networks.