Hackers recently attempted to gain access to the US Democratic Party's voter database, a cyber-security firm has said, reviving the spectre of Russia's hugely consequential cyber-theft of party communications in the 2016 vote. Less than three months before crucial congressional elections in November, security consultant Lookout said yesterday that it had detected "an attempted phishing campaign" targeting the Democratic National Committee.

The effort was spotted by Lookout's Phishing AI engine, an automated monitor. Lookout said it targeted VoteBuilder, a voter database of the DNC run by NGPVAN. The hackers erected a lookalike domain that could allow it to grab the login and password of any authorized VoteBuilder users fooled by the fake website. The fake site was taken down. There was no information on the identity of who erected it, but a DNC official told US media that there were no breaches of its systems.