Clinton emails exposed by phising attack
Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman was targeted by hackers using a sophisticated phishing email, according to WikiLeaks documents. John Podesta received a message through his Gmail account telling him to update his password, which appeared to be from Google but turned out to be a phishing email. Internet security firm SecureWorks said Podesta was not the only Clinton aide to be targeted by phishing emails and that they believed the messages were sent by "Fancy Bear," a cyber-espionage group thought to be run by the Russian military and intelligence networks.
Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman was tricked into providing his password to his hackers by a sophisticated phishing email, according to the latest trove of documents released by WikiLeaks.

Cyber experts believe the ploy that exposed John Podesta to the cyber-attack is direct evidence of Russian espionage.

Podesta was advised by an aide to update his password after receiving what was believed to be a 'legitimate' warning from Google advising him to do so.

It was sent to his Gmail account on March 19, 2016, but it turned out to be a phishing email,CNN reported.

Phishing is a scam in which unwitting Internet users are tricked into handing out personal information like passwords and credit card numbers through the use of email messages that appear to be from a trusted source.

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John Podesta (left), chairman of Hillary Clinton's (right) campaign, may have been tricked into giving his password to a hacker who sent a phishing email

Podesta was told by a campaign staffer that an email that looked as if it was sent by Google appeared authentic, though it is not known for sure whether this was the email that led to the massive WikiLeaks breach.

The mailing address on the message shows 'no-reply@accounts.googlemail.com,' which is a fake. The subject line of the message reads: 'CHANGE PASSWORD.'

Beneath it is a link inviting the user to do just that. When clicking on the link, however, it does not redirect the user to a secure Google page, but rather to an unknown bit.ly address.

A cybersecurity expert told CNN that if Podesta had followed the link and changed the email, thus providing his password to an unauthorized third party, it could have been the opening that led to the WikiLeaks hack.

SecureWorks, an Internet security company, said that Podesta was not the only Clinton aide to be targeted by the phishing emails.

'We saw 108 email addresses targeted and we know that 20 of the links that were sent to those individuals were clicked,' a researcher at the firm told CNN.

The firm believes that the phishing messages are the clearest indication that Russia is behind the Podesta-WikiLeaks hack.

An aide to Podesta who was consulted on the email believed it to be legitimate and advised him to change his password by following a provided link

The link, however, is not to a secure Google site but rather to a different landing page that security experts say is run by Russian hackers

The United States government has stated its belief that the Russians were behind the hack against the Democratic National Committee this past summer, though it has not taken a position on its possible involvement in the Podesta emails.

SecureWorks experts believe that the phishing email was sent to Podesta and other Clinton staffers by 'Fancy Bear,' a cyber-espionage group that is believed to be run by the Russian military and intelligence apparatus.

The bit.ly address contained in the email leads to a site that the company says is linked to 'Fancy Bear.'

SecureWorks says that 'Fancy Bear' has traditionally targeted Western diplomatic missions in eastern Europe.