Photo: AP

Amid its ongoing probe into the cyber attack against the Democratic National Committee, the FBI has begun an investigation into a separate but possibly related hack of another group within the Democratic party—the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. The DCCC hack and the FBI’s subsequent investigation was first reported by Reuters, on Friday.

In a statement, DCCC spokeswoman Meredith Kelly confirmed to the Washington Post that it had been the target of “a cybersecurity incident.”

“The DCCC takes this matter very seriously,” Kelly said. “With the assistance of leading experts we have taken and are continuing to take steps to enhance the security of our network in the face of these recent events. We are cooperating with the federal law enforcement with respect to their ongoing investigation.”

The newly-reported attack may have targeted donor information. The DCCC, a political committee working to get Democrats elected to the House of Representatives, shares office space with the DNC. Reuters reports:

It was not clear what data was exposed, although donors typically submit a variety of personal information including names, email addresses and credit card details when making a contribution. It was also unclear if stolen information was used to hack into other systems.

The DCCC raises money for Democrats running for seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. The intrusion at the group could have begun as recently as June, two of the sources told Reuters.

That was when a bogus website was registered with a name closely resembling that of a main donation site connected to the DCCC. For some time, internet traffic associated with donations that was supposed to go to a company that processes campaign donations instead went to the bogus site, two sources said.

The sources said the Internet Protocol address of the spurious site resembled one used by Russian government-linked hackers suspected in the breach of the DNC, the body that sets strategy and raises money for the Democratic Party nationwide.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Reuters that Russia had nothing to do with the DCCC hack, just as it had nothing to do with the earlier, DNC hack. “We don’t see the point any more in repeating yet again that this is silliness,” he said.