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After the US Cyber and Infrastructure Security Agency issued a statement on the ongoing hacking operations in the country and the expectations of a very complex operation to eliminate the threat actor, the networks of the Department of Energy and the Department of Nuclear Safety are also compromised.
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A massive campaign of cyber attacks that affected 6 US federal agencies, including penetration by the Nuclear Weapons Agency.
US officials said Thursday that the networks of the Department of Energy and the National Nuclear Security Administration, which manages the country’s nuclear weapons arsenal, have been compromised.
Politico quoted officials directly familiar with the matter as saying the ministry and administration had evidence that hackers gained access to their networks as part of a massive cyber campaign that affected at least six federal agencies.
Officials from the Department of Energy and the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) began coordinating notifications of non-compliance with the relevant oversight agencies in the United States Congress after Rocky Campion, the chief information officer for the Department of Energy , report on the matter.
Officials found suspicious activity on the networks of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), Sandia and Los Alamos National Laboratories in New Mexico and Washington, the Office of Safe Transportation and the Richland Field Office of the Department of Energy.
Officials said the hackers were able to do more damage to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) network than other agencies, but without elaborating. Meanwhile, sources told the site that federal investigators have combed the networks in recent days to determine what the hackers were able to access or steal.
But Energy Ministry officials still don’t know if the attackers were able to gain access to anything, indicating that the investigation is continuing and they may not know the full extent of the damage for weeks.
The attack on the Department of Energy is the clearest sign yet that hackers have gained access to networks that belong to a critical part of America’s national security system.
Hackers are also believed to gain access to federal agency networks by hacking into software company SolarWinds, which sells IT management products to hundreds of government and private customers.
These violations come along with the signing of outgoing US President Donald Trump on a memorandum of directive on the use of nuclear energy to strengthen “US strategic leadership” in space.
For his part, the president-elect of the United States, Joe Biden, said in a statement, today, the fifth, “We recently learned of what appears to be a massive cybersecurity breach that affected thousands of potential victims, including companies and United States government institutions “.
Biden added: “We still have a lot we don’t know, but what has become clear to us is a source of enormous concern.
According to the statement, “cybersecurity will be the top priority of my administration, and includes all relevant levels of government, and from the first moment we will assume official functions.
In parallel, the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency issued a statement earlier today, stating that the continued hacking of ministries began in March 2020, and the actor was distinguished by patience and commitment to security measures. operational, as well as complex intelligence operations to achieve these gaps.
And Washington announced that the devices of the US State Department were exposed to the hacking operation, which, according to the US side, was attributed to Russia, as well as the National Institute of Health.
The Washington Post previously quoted US officials as saying that “the Department of Homeland Security, the third largest federal agency in the United States, was the victim of a major cyber espionage campaign by the Russian government.”
Informed sources in the United States said that “a high-level hacking group backed by a foreign government had stolen information from the Treasury Department and an agency responsible for determining Internet and communications policy,” according to Reuters.
While US officials accused the Russian government of the “hacking” operation, Moscow rejected those allegations, and the Russian embassy in the United States confirmed that attempts by the US media to accuse Russia of launching electronic attacks against US government agencies were ” unfounded “.
Accordingly, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov confirmed that the United States did not inform Russia through official channels of alleged attacks by Russian hackers against US government agencies.
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