US intelligence boss James Clapper’s phone and personal email were hacked

The hacker who broke into CIA director John Brennan’s email inbox last October has now claimed US Director of National Intelligence James Clapper as his latest victim.

Going by the handle ‘Cracka’ and claiming to be a teen member of the hacker group ‘Crackas with Attitude’ (CWA), the attacker told Motherboard that he had gained access to Clapper’s home phone, internet and personal email accounts, as well as his wife’s Yahoo email.

A spokesperson for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence confirmed the intrusion on Tuesday.

Of course, merely breaking in wasn’t enough for Cracka — the alleged teen also changed Clapper’s settings so all his incoming calls were redirected to Paul Larudee, the co-founder of the Free Palestine Movement.

The breach was likely the result of social engineering techniques used to guess Clapper’s passwords or security questions through research into his life or by spoofing service providers to get them to divulge information.

When asked why he did it, Cracka responded, “I just wanted the gov to know people aren’t fucking around, people know what they’re doing and people don’t agree #FreePalestine.” CWA said after last year’s hack that its actions were in support of the Palestine cause.

Today’s intrusion should serve as a reminder that just about anyone can hack your personal accounts, and may not even require technical skills to do it.

➤ Teen Who Hacked CIA Email Is Back to Prank US Spy Chief [Motherboard]