Top Democrat's emails hacked by Russia after aide made typo, investigation finds

In the run-up to the US election, aide to John Podesta spotted phishing email but flagged it as 'legitimate' instead of 'illegitimate'

Russian hackers were able to access thousands of emails from a top-ranking Democrat after an aide typed the word "legitimate" instead of "illegitimate" by mistake, an investigation by the New York Times has found.

The revelation gives further credence to the CIA's finding last week that the Kremlin deliberately intervened in the US presidential election to help Donald Trump. The president-elect has angrily denied the CIA's assessment, calling it "ridiculous".