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Newsweek is reporting that computer networks of both the Obama and McCain campaigns were the targets of a sophisticated cyberattack in the run-up to the general election and, in the Obama case, "a serious amount of files" were downloaded" from the system.

The Obama camp initially thought in midsummer that their system was infected by password-stealing malware uploaded to someone's computer through a phishing attack. But after FBI and Secret Service agents investigated, they told staff they had a problem "way bigger than what you understand."

The intrusion even led White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten to tell the Obama camp, "You have a real problem . . . and you have to deal with it."

Oddly, Newsweek reports that officials at the FBI and White House told the Obama camp that the culprit was a "foreign entity" likely seeking information on the two sides' policy positions to use in negotiations with the next administration, and that the Obama system had not been hacked by its political opponents.

Newsweek doesn't say how, exactly, they were able to make this determination.

The piece adds, however, that Obama "technical experts" speculated that the hackers were Russian or Chinese.

Feel free to comment.

By the way, the information about the hack appears in Newsweek's special "How He Did It, 2008" edition, which provides inside, behind-the scenes reporting that was conducted throughout the election under the condition that nothing uncovered during that time would be published until after the election.

Read the full report as it's published in seven parts throughout the coming days. It looks like it will contain some doozies.

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