A person claiming to be the hacker responsible for leaking confidential materials from the Democratic Party told the Wall Street Journal that he is not connected to Russia and is angry that Moscow is getting all the credit for his actions.
The newspaper reported on Wednesday that it had exchanged a series of direct messages with a person identifying himself as Guccifer 2.0, who was using the same social media account that was previously used to leak Democrat materials. However, the WSJ said it couldn’t identify the person sending the messages by any other means.
The alleged hacker responsible for breaking into computer networks of the Democratic National Committee and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee denied having any ties with the Russian government or Russia.
“I read several reports, some experts found out that my proxy IP is hosted at a service that’s somehow connected with Russia and has a version in Russian as well as in English,” the individual wrote as cited by WSJ. “This is their strong evidence,” he wrote, adding a smile emoticon.
“It made me angry they attributed my deals to the Russians,” the hacker wrote. “But then I realised the deeper they go this way the safer I am.”
“My goal is to bring the truth, I call it to bring the light,” the hacker wrote, adding that “the big capital has occupied the policy” and “big [IT] companies are leading us to the disaster.”
Numerous media outlets have cited US officials alleging that the Russian government is responsible for the hack, including, most recently, National Intelligence Director James Clapper. On Wednesday, Defense Secretary Ash Carter warned Russia against interfering with Western “democratic processes,” while accusing Moscow of aggressive behavior.
Moscow denies that it is trying to interfere with the US presidential campaign and says it is prepared to work with whichever politician the Americans elect in November.
In the communication with WSJ, Guccifer 2.0 said that pointing fingers at Moscow or Beijing has become a convenient excuse for the Americans.
“I believe in case with the U.S. this is the most safe point to use Russian and Chinese services,” the hacker wrote.
Asked whether he wanted to undermine the Democratic Party’s bid for the oval office in favor of the Republicans, Guccifer 2.0 denied that this was his or her goal.
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Guccifer 2.0 acknowledged that the release of hacked DNC materials was timed to coincide with the electoral cycle to draw more attention to his or her message.
“I think I won’t have a better opportunity to promote my ideas than this year,” he wrote.
The hacker said he or she has “more info” that may be leaked to the public.
Guccifer 2.0 has claimed that he or she is from Eastern Europe. The original Guccifer was a Romanian hacker later identified as Marcel Lazar Lehel, who exposed Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server. Last week, the he was sentenced to 52 months in prison by a US federal judge in Virginia.