It has been confirmed Russian hackers were able to crack into a non-classified White House computer network as reported by CNN.

Deputy White House National Security Adviser, Ben Rhodes said on Tuesday no classified information was compromised.

We do not believe our classified systems were compromised.

He added the White House is continuously updating its system and that personnel are told to act as if information on the network could be compromised.

The initial breach happened when the hackers managed to gain access into State Department computers. From there they were able to trick an employee into providing information that got them into the White House computer system and eventually into the Oval Office.

The hackers had access to sensitive information such as real-time non-public details of the president’s schedule. Even though that information is not classified it is seen as being highly sensitive and prized by foreign intelligence agencies.

FBI assistant director, Shawn Henry told CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360:

With that level of access that they’ve got, they’ve got the ability to see everything that occurs on that network, they’ve got the ability to exfiltrate data off that network and most probably most important, they’ve got the ability to destroy components off that network.

Even though the government has not fully admitted the hack occurred, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper hinted it did during testimony in front of the Senate.

He said:

While I can’t go into detail here, the Russian cyber threat is more severe than we had previously assessed.

There are may different systems in the White House for classified and non-classified information and it was reported the system that handles top-secret information was not been compromised.

CNN also reported Russia hackers have been gaining access into the State Department computers for months even though there has been numerous efforts to keep them out.