US Probes Hack Of Treasury, Commerce Department

Attacks by hackers linked to the Russian government against the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the U.S. Department of Commerce and its National Telecommunications and Information Administration unit discovered Friday (Dec. 11) and over the weekend were severe enough to trigger a Saturday (Dec. 12) emergency meeting of the National Security Council at the White House, Reuters reported.

National Security Council spokesman John Ullyot reportedly told Reuters: “The United States government is aware of these reports and we are taking all necessary steps to identify and remedy any possible issues related to this situation.”

Reuters quoted a Commerce Department spokesman as having stated: “We have asked the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the FBI to investigate, and we cannot comment further at this time.”

Reuters quoted one unnamed government official as having said: “This is a much bigger story than one single agency. This is a huge cyber espionage campaign targeting the U.S. government and its interests.”

The news service stated the email-system entry may have been related to an IT-services company called SolarWinds, which according to its website has 3,200 employees and counts among its customers 499 of the Fortune 500 companies.

A SolarWinds spokesman did not respond to a request for comment, Reuters reported, but the company issued a statement late Sunday night indicating it was targeted by a “highly-sophisticated, targeted and manual supply chain attack by a nation state.”

SolarWinds didn’t say whether the company was associated with the Commerce Department breach, Reuters reported.

The Associated Press reported that days before the attack, important security firm FireEye reported that a sophisticated hacker had stolen tools the company uses to test its customers’ internet defenses.

The Washington Post reported that the Russian group suspected to be behind the attacks, called the SVR, “steals information for traditional espionage purposes, seeking secrets that might help the Kremlin understand the plans and motives of politicians and policymakers. Its operators also have filched industrial data and hacked foreign ministries.”

The latest attacks on government agencies come amid warnings from the Treasury Department about ransomware attacks against numerous sectors, including healthcare organizations.