A hacker going by the name of “Guccifer” has exposed emails, photographs, and other personal information belonging to family members of former President George H.W. Bush.
One of the photos shows the elder Bush president in a hospital bed, where he was recovering from bronchitis last month. Other photos include paintings by former President George W. Bush – self-portraits of him showering and in the bathtub – and personal pictures of the Bush family life.
“Guccifer” tells The Smoking Gun, which first reported the breach, that a total of six email addresses were compromised, exposing correspondence the spans from 2009 to 2012. The hacked email accounts include an AOL email address of Dorothy Bush Koch, daughter of George H.W. Bush.
While “Guccifer” claims that the information stolen in the breach include “interesting mails,” and “a lot” of other “stuff,” most of it appears to be of an entirely personal nature, including discussions surrounding possible funeral plans for the 88-year-old George H.W. Bush. Other emails show correspondence between family friends, a former presidential adviser, and one get-well-soon message from President Barack Obama sent through one of his aides.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has launched a criminal investigation into the hack, according to the Associated Press. But “Guccifer” appears unconcerned, telling The Smoking Gun that federal agents began investigating him a “long time ago.”
“I have an old game with the f**king bastards inside,” he said. “This is just another chapter in the game.”
Web searches reveal little about anyone going by the handle “Guccifer.” Gaming forum Arena Junkies has a user registered with that name, as does online poker website Poker Play. Neither accounts show any significant activity. A Tumblr blog, guccifer.tumblr.com, also exists, but all posts have been deleted, save one: A GIF, which reads “I’ll be back.” It is entirely unclear and unconfirmed whether any of these accounts are linked to the person behind the Bush email hack.
