White House deals with report of Obama e-mail hack

That October cyber attack attempt on the White House continues to shadow the Obama administration.

Officials are not commenting on -- but also not disputing -- a New York Times report that Russian hackers swept up some of President Obama's e-mail correspondence during that attack last year.

They are saying that the administration has acted to protect all of its computer networks.

"We have talked for a number of months now, dating back to last fall, about some suspicious activity that was detected on the White House computer network," said White House spokesman Josh Earnest.

He added, "the White House took important steps to limit that activity and it did not result in the compromise of any data on the classified network."

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Asked specifically about Obama's e-mails and allegations of Russian involvement, Earnest said he wouldn't discuss specifics of the fall incident.

"You know, there's a lot of reporting out there that's being done on this," Earnest told reporters, "but I don't have anything to add to it from here today."

In the six months since the attack, a variety of reports have unearthed more facts about the major cyber attack against the administration.

From The New York Times:

"Some of President Obama's email correspondence was swept up by Russian hackers last year in a breach of the White House's unclassified computer system that was far more intrusive and worrisome than has been publicly acknowledged, according to senior American officials briefed on the investigation.

"The hackers, who also got deeply into the State Department's unclassified system, do not appear to have penetrated closely guarded servers that control the message traffic from Mr. Obama's BlackBerry, which he or an aide carries constantly.

"But they obtained access to the email archives of people inside the White House, and perhaps some outside, with whom Mr. Obama regularly communicated. From those accounts, they reached emails that the president had sent and received, according to officials briefed on the investigation."