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Clinton Failed to Report Multiple Attempts to Hack Personal Email

Hillary Clinton
Hillary Clinton / AP
May 25, 2016

Hillary Clinton failed to report multiple attempts to hack her personal email account during her tenure as secretary of state.

The revelation came in a lengthy report issued by the State Department’s inspector general, which faulted Clinton for violating federal regulations governing the use of personal email by high-ranking administration officials.

The Washington Times noted that a hacking attempt in 2011 led a technology staffer to shut down the server for a few minutes and later warn aides not to send "anything sensitive" to Clinton, according to the report. While the former secretary of state also expressed fear to open email following another attempted breach, Clinton still did not report it to the government.

"Notification is required when a user suspects compromise of, among other things, a personally owned device containing personally identifiable information," investigators wrote in the report, which was released on Wednesday. "However, OIG found no evidence that the Secretary or her staff reported these incidents to computer security personnel or anyone else within the Department."

Additionally, when aide Huma Abedin suggested that Clinton sign up for an official State Department email account or notify the agency of her exclusive use of a personal address in 2010, Clinton refused and indicated that she didn’t "want any risk of the personal [email account] being accessible."

Clinton’s personal email server, which she has long claimed to have used out of convenience, is currently under investigation by the FBI.

According to the State Department watchdog, Clinton did not comply with policies implemented by the department in accordance with the Federal Records Act. Her senior staffers also violated federal records regulations, the report noted.

The department’s inspector general also found no evidence that Clinton sought approval to use personal email to conduct official business.