A rogue Democratic aide stole a massive trove of political data and used it to harm Republicans by “doxxing†them in what prosecutors call the “largest data theft in Senate history.â€
The theft was made possible, and could have been much worse, because of myriad blunders by the Capitol Police and multiple Democratic congresswomen.
Jackson Cosko was sentenced Wednesday to four years in prison. Prosecutors called his offense an “extraordinary†and “vicious†crime where the ex-Democratic aide stole a senator’s data, mined it for blackmail material and then published the home addresses and phone numbers of Republican senators during the 2018 hearings for now-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
Even after the computer administrator was caught in the act and arrested for spying on a senator’s office using his advanced technical skills, Capitol Police didn’t check the USB ports of nearby computers. Six different computers within steps of where he was arrested in the Senate had keylogger devices in them that continued to capture and beam private information over WiFi. They were only exposed through a confession.
Police then got a search warrant on his home, but missed critical evidence because they didn’t check the oven.
Toxic individuals were repeatedly passed among government offices apparently without anyone performing a background check or calling for job references. And despite lamentations from Democrats about the DNC hack, there was seemingly little concern about technology and data security.
After Cosko was arrested for posting Republicans’ private information online during the Kavanaugh hearings and breaking into New Hampshire Sen. Maggie Hassan’s office late at night to steal the data, Capitol Police missed key evidence.
https://dailycaller.com/2019/06/20/jackson-cosko-democrats-data-theft/
