Homeland Security: Hacking campaign poses 'grave risk' to all levels of government, private sector.
A devastating cyber attack believed to be tied to Russia continues to pose a "grave risk" to government networks and the private sector, according to an ominous warning issued Thursday by the Department of Homeland Security.
The bulletin from DHS' Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), represented the most striking assessment yet of a cascading threat to federal, state and local networks.
"CISA has determined that this threat poses a grave risk to the federal government and state, local, tribal, and territorial governments as well as critical infrastructure entities and other private sector organizations," the bulletin stated.
"This... actor has demonstrated patience, operational security, and complex trade-craft in these intrusions," CISA said of the hackers, adding that the ongoing effort to eliminate the threat would "will be highly complex and challenging."
Networks at the Department of Energy and the National Nuclear Security Administration, which manages the country's nuclear weapons stockpile, also may have been compromised according to reports by the Washington Post and Politico.
The attacks, which have targeted major branches of the U.S. government, has put an untold number of Americans, agencies and government secrets at risk of compromise.
The attackers penetrated federal computer systems through a popular piece of server software offered through a company called SolarWinds.
The threat apparently came from the same cyberespionage campaign that has afflicted cybersecurity firm FireEye, foreign governments and major corporations.
The system is used by hundreds of thousands of organizations globally, including most Fortune 500 companies and multiple U.S. federal agencies, which will now be scrambling to patch up their networks.
The attackers planted malware in computer networks after using what FireEye CEO Kevin Mandia has called “a novel combination of techniques not witnessed by us or our partners in the past.”
In its alert Thursday, CISA said that is "likely" that full scope of the campaign remains unclear as additional intrusions "have not yet been discovered."
"Due to the nature of this pattern of adversary activity—and the targeting of key personnel, incident response staff, and IT email accounts—discussion of findings... should be considered very sensitive, and should be protected by operational security measures," the CISA said.
The agency also indicated that some of the intrusions may have occurred as early as March.
Late Wednesday, the FBI, in a joint statement with CISA and the Director of National Intelligence, called the attack "a developing situation."
"While we continue to work to understand the full extent of this campaign, we know this compromise has affected networks within the federal government," the agencies said.
President-elect Joe Biden said Thursday that his transition team had been briefed on what he described on what "appears to be a massive cybersecurity breach affecting potentially thousands of victims."
"There’s a lot we don’t yet know, but what we do know is a matter of great concern," Biden said in a statement.
Tom Bossert, a former homeland security adviser to President Donald Trump, said the "magnitude of this ongoing attack is hard to overstate."
"The Russians have had access to a considerable number of important and sensitive networks for six to nine months," Bossert said in column published in the New York Times, adding that Russian intelligence officials have likely gained "administrative control over the networks it considered priority targets."
"For those targets, the hackers will have long ago moved past their entry point, covered their tracks and gained what experts call 'persistent access,' meaning the ability to infiltrate and control networks in a way that is hard to detect or remove."
Bossert said it could take years to learn the depth of the damage.
A devastating cyber attack believed to be tied to Russia continues to pose a "grave risk" to government networks and the private sector, according to an ominous warning issued Thursday by the Department of Homeland Security.
The bulletin from DHS' Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), represented the most striking assessment yet of a cascading threat to federal, state and local networks.
"CISA has determined that this threat poses a grave risk to the federal government and state, local, tribal, and territorial governments as well as critical infrastructure entities and other private sector organizations," the bulletin stated.
"This... actor has demonstrated patience, operational security, and complex trade-craft in these intrusions," CISA said of the hackers, adding that the ongoing effort to eliminate the threat would "will be highly complex and challenging."
Networks at the Department of Energy and the National Nuclear Security Administration, which manages the country's nuclear weapons stockpile, also may have been compromised according to reports by the Washington Post and Politico.
The attacks, which have targeted major branches of the U.S. government, has put an untold number of Americans, agencies and government secrets at risk of compromise.
The attackers penetrated federal computer systems through a popular piece of server software offered through a company called SolarWinds.
The threat apparently came from the same cyberespionage campaign that has afflicted cybersecurity firm FireEye, foreign governments and major corporations.
The system is used by hundreds of thousands of organizations globally, including most Fortune 500 companies and multiple U.S. federal agencies, which will now be scrambling to patch up their networks.
The attackers planted malware in computer networks after using what FireEye CEO Kevin Mandia has called “a novel combination of techniques not witnessed by us or our partners in the past.”
In its alert Thursday, CISA said that is "likely" that full scope of the campaign remains unclear as additional intrusions "have not yet been discovered."
"Due to the nature of this pattern of adversary activity—and the targeting of key personnel, incident response staff, and IT email accounts—discussion of findings... should be considered very sensitive, and should be protected by operational security measures," the CISA said.
The agency also indicated that some of the intrusions may have occurred as early as March.
Late Wednesday, the FBI, in a joint statement with CISA and the Director of National Intelligence, called the attack "a developing situation."
"While we continue to work to understand the full extent of this campaign, we know this compromise has affected networks within the federal government," the agencies said.
President-elect Joe Biden said Thursday that his transition team had been briefed on what he described on what "appears to be a massive cybersecurity breach affecting potentially thousands of victims."
"There’s a lot we don’t yet know, but what we do know is a matter of great concern," Biden said in a statement.
Tom Bossert, a former homeland security adviser to President Donald Trump, said the "magnitude of this ongoing attack is hard to overstate."
"The Russians have had access to a considerable number of important and sensitive networks for six to nine months," Bossert said in column published in the New York Times, adding that Russian intelligence officials have likely gained "administrative control over the networks it considered priority targets."
"For those targets, the hackers will have long ago moved past their entry point, covered their tracks and gained what experts call 'persistent access,' meaning the ability to infiltrate and control networks in a way that is hard to detect or remove."
Bossert said it could take years to learn the depth of the damage.
USA TODAY
US under cyber attack believed to be tied to Russia: Private sector, infrastructure, all levels of government at risk
Officials reviewing compromises to Department of Energy — including nuclear administration — and other sectors in massive hacking campaign.
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A Spirit airplane slid off the taxiway Thursday morning at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport. Ni injuries reported.
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Meanwhile, in Seattle. Squatters claiming to be standing in solidarity with the homeless at Cal Anderson Park have just taken over this yellow house at 1106 E. Denny Way in Seattle. They’re laying out demands at 4pm during a press conference.
WARNING! GRAPHIC CONTENT! Somewhere in Brazil. Ex-employee killed ex-boss. the employee worked for 15 years in the company, was fired and started to threaten the manager. Two years later he came back to kill him.
LA County Sheriffs: Santa McGruff took the time to pose in front a beautiful rainbow today in Compton, Ca. Looking forward to a great Holiday season!
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Leftists like to compare Trump to Hitler and other dictators that have killed millions. What the hell are Americans learning in school?
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Meanwhile, in NYC!
Emergency crews are at the scene of a small plane crash in Pembroke Pines, Florida. Additional scene video from a fiery small plane crash in Pembroke Pines, FL, where four people were hospitalized.
LA County Sheriff's: Today, Homicide Detectives and the family of Luis Paul Rivera pleaded to the public to help solve his murder.
DO YOU HAVE ANY INFORMATION ABOUT THIS CASE?
Click the link to watch the full press conference:
https://lasd.org/luis-paul-rivera/
DO YOU HAVE ANY INFORMATION ABOUT THIS CASE?
Click the link to watch the full press conference:
https://lasd.org/luis-paul-rivera/
Police frequency
A naked individual, which seems like a male, adorning only a giant panda head, was seen on Wednesday morning speed skating naked in Cleveland, westbound on 670.
UPDATE: “A spokesperson for the Ohio Department of Transportation, who had seen the video, said the ODOT cameras store information for 72 hours, and that the video didn’t seem shot on Wednesday, a snowy day for the city.”