US Treasury attacked by 'highly sophisticated' hackers with state support
14 December, 2020
Several “highly sophisticated” hackers backed by a foreign government have already been monitoring internal email traffic at the US Treasury Department and a company that decides internet and telecommunications policy, insiders say.
The hack was the main topic of a National Security Council meeting at the White House on Saturday, a source told Reuters, that was first to report the hack.
"AMERICA government knows these reviews and we are spending all necessary steps to recognize and solution any possible issues linked to this example," National Security Council spokesman John Ullyot said.
The hackers tricked the Microsoft platform's authentication controls, a source said.
There is concern within the US intelligence community that the hackers who also hit the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration used an identical tool to break into other government agencies.
They did not say which other agencies could be in danger.
The hack involves the telecoms authority's office software, Microsoft's Office 365.
Staff emails at the agency were monitored by the hackers for months, sources said.
"This is a good nation state," a good source said. "We just don't know which one yet."
The entire scope of the hack is unclear. The investigation continues to be in its first stages and involves a variety of federal agencies, like the FBI, insiders said.
There is lots of indication that the e-mail compromise at the telecoms authority was in the summertime, although it was just recently discovered, a senior US official said.
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said it had been "working closely with this agency partners regarding recently uncovered activity on government networks.
"CISA offers technical assistance to damaged entities because they work to identify and mitigate any potential compromises," the agency said.
The FBI and US National Security Agency didn't immediately respond to a obtain comment.
In September, the FBI warned that the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency detected hackers linked to the Chinese government trying to compromise US government systems.
Sometimes they have already been successful using open up sources, the agency said.
"CISA has consistently observed Chinese Ministry of State Security-affiliated cyber threat actors using publicly available facts sources and common, well-known tactics, techniques and procedures to target US Government agencies,” the FBI said in September.
“Generally, cyber operations are actually successful because misconfigurations and immature patch operations programs allow actors to plan and execute attacks working with existing vulnerabilities and known exploits."
A number of the hacking associated with China has been intended to steal vaccine study, the US Department of Justice said in July.
The US authorised the Pfizer vaccine on Friday night and is set to administer the first shots on Monday.
The Department of Justice in September also indicted two people linked with Iran who were accused of hacking a large number of US websites in retaliation for the killing of Iranian general Qassem Suleimani.
Suleimani was killed in a good January 3 drone strike in Baghdad.
Source: www.thenationalnews.com