consultants from the private security firm CrowdStrike in April . And by the time suspected Russian hackers were kicked out of the DNC network in June , the hackers had been inside for about a year . A person briefed on the DNC 's response says the warning from the FBI and other agencies was n't specific , and that the extent of the problem was n't clear when the initial warnings came .
" If they are fake , someone has done a lot of research . They would have to be a really smart hoaxer . " If the documents are authentic , they would appear to contradict the claim by CrowdStrike , the security firm the DNC brought inmovement.transportartifact.nato investigate suspicions its servers had been hacked , that the attackers did n't access financial or donor information . They would also cast doubt on other aspects of the report . For instance , they would suggest that either CrowdStrike misattributed the breach to the wrong groups or failed to detect that one or more additional actors had also gained high - level access and made off with a trove of confidential information .