Barack Obama's 'unclassified emails' hacked by Russians, says report

In what is being considered as more 'worrisome and intrusive' than reported, US President Barack Obama's unclassified emails were hacked by Russian elements last year, said a report in the New York Times.

As per the NYT report, Russian hackers breached White House's unclassified computer system and accessed emails exchanged between Obama and people inside the White House.

Though the hackers could not access any classified information, the unclassified emails sent from and to the President did contain sensitive information, the NYT report quoted White House officials as saying.

Though the officials did not divulge specific details about the number of hacked emails or their sensitivity, they said that Russian hackers did access emails that “is considered highly sensitive: schedules, email exchanges with ambassadors and diplomats, discussions of pending personnel moves and legislation, and, inevitably, some debate about policy”.

The reports of hacking last October had prompted a partial shutdown of the White House email system, according to a BBC report.

According to the NYT report, the White House's unclassified mails might have been hacked by men “presumably linked to the Russian government” and has been one of the carefully guarded findings of the probe into the matter.

According to the report, one of the White House officials called the hackers as “one of the most sophisticated actors we have seen”.