Report of Ukraine ‘witness’ to DNC hack stirs confusion

PARIS – A report that a co-operating witness emerged out of Ukraine to help the FBI’s inquiry into the 2016 hack of the Democratic National Committee is drawing confusion and denials in Ukraine.

A front-page story published by The New York Times says a malware author linked to the hacking of the DNC’s servers had turned himself in and was co-operating with authorities, citing Ukraine’s Cyberpolice.

But Ukraine’s Cyberpolice said Saturday the unnamed individual had no established links to hacking and that it isn’t clear that the man is even a malware author.

The Times’ story has since been revised to eliminate the reference to a DNC link. A Ukrainian lawmaker has been quoted as saying that the Times misidentified the hacker entirely.